US dollar weakens amid concerns over trade tensions
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E-mail Xinhua, August 24, 2019
The U.S. dollar fell sharply on Friday amid concerns over U.S.-China trade tensions.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.55 percent at 97.6408 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1145 dollars from 1.1085 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.2284 dollars from 1.2257 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar was down to 0.6752 dollar from 0.6757 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 105.29 Japanese yen, lower than 106.41 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9742 Swiss franc from 0.9836 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.3293 Canadian dollars from 1.3299 Canadian dollars.
China will impose additional tariffs on U.S. imports worth about 75 billion U.S. dollars in response to the newly announced U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese goods, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced Friday.
Based on laws and approved by the State Council, a total of 5,078 U.S. products will be subject to additional tariffs of 10 percent or 5 percent.
The tariff hikes will be implemented in two batches and take effect at 12:01 p.m. Beijing time on Sept. 1 and at 12:01 p.m. on Dec. 15, respectively, the commission said in a statement.
China's imposition of additional tariffs is a forced response to U.S. unilateralism and trade protectionism, the commission said.
The U.S. government announced on Aug. 15 that it will impose additional tariffs of 10 percent on Chinese goods worth about 300 billion U.S. dollars, effective on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, respectively, in two batches.
As market angst over U.S. and global economic growth built up, U.S. Treasury bills, a traditional low-risk assets, saw retreating yields throughout the day, which indicated dampened investor sentiment.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yields pulled back to over 1.53 percent in late afternoon, only a bit higher than the 2-year Treasury yields, fueling concerns over a potential inverted yield curve, which widely seen as a harbinger of a future recession.
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