The dollar and China’s yuan were steady on Wednesday as teams from US and China concluded trade talks in London, hinting at a thaw in a damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies but offering scant detail.
The countries’ officials agreed on a framework based on a trade truce reached last month in Geneva that would resolve China’s export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets, and remove some US export restrictions that were recently put in place.
China’s Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said that the next step would be to take the agreed framework back to their respective heads of state.
Tony Sycamore, a market analyst with IG, said it would be “fantastic” if the sides kept to the terms of their trade deal in Geneva, which effectively reduced US tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent and Chinese tariffs on US goods to 10 percent, down from levels above 100 percent.
“Now that for me was probably the market consensus … and now people are just trying to work out whether they’re going to buy or sell the US dollar and that’s I think reflecting a bit of that indecision,” he said.
The dollar firmed slightly in the wake of the news, pushing the euro down 0.07 percent to $1.141 and steadying at 144.91 yen.
