Commodities

US-China partial trade deal, oil and currencies


Asia Pacific markets looked set to trade cautiously on Tuesday, following the previous day’s rally, as new doubts emerged overnight about the U.S.-China partial trade deal.Still, futures pointed to a slightly higher open for the Nikkei 225 in Japan, where markets were closed Monday for a public holiday.In Australia, the ASX 200 slipped 0.23% in early trade. The heavily weighted financial subindex was down 0.13% while the energy sector fell 0.69% and materials was down 0.99%.Overnight, stocks closed slightly lower on Wall Street and declined in major European markets.”We have started the new week in a more cautious mood with the US-China trade vibes now starting to show some signs of friction,” Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign-exchange strategist at the National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note. “China wants more talk time to iron out details and it also wants the tariff stick to go away, but overnight comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggests otherwise.”CurrenciesThe dollar index, which measures the U.S. dollar against a basket of its peers, last traded at 98.454, dipping from earlier levels near 98.500.Elsewhere, the Japanese yen, which is seen as a safe-haven currency, changed hands at 108.40, weakening from an earlier high of 108.33. The Australian dollar traded at $0.6775.

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