Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was higher on Monday after upbeat trade comments helped lift sentiment.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg on Sunday that U.S.-based companies would be issued with licenses to sell to Chinese tech giant Huawei “very shortly,” adding that the government had received some 260 requests from U.S. suppliers for exemptions from the existing restrictions on selling to the company. Huawei had been blacklisted on national security grounds amid concerns from the White House over its connection to the Chinese government, a move that many linked to the broader trade war with China.
Meanwhile on Friday, Washington and Beijing indicated that progress had been made on agreeing to a trade deal, with U.S. officials indicating that a deal could be signed this month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.1% to 97.160 as of 10:50 AM ET (14:50 GMT).
The safe-haven Japanese yen was lower with USD/JPY up 0.3% to 108.48.
Elsewhere, sterling fell as the U.K. prepared for an election in December. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government must be prepared to leave the EU without a deal on Jan. 31 and that a Brexit transition period would not be extended after that.
GBP/USD fell 0.2% to 1.2911 while EUR/USD inched down 0.1% to 1.1153. AUD/USD dipped 0.1% to 0.6802, while USD/ZAR tumbled 1.8% to 14.7513 after Moody’s held back from downgrading South Africa’s debt to junk. The outlook was instead lowered to negative, even as the country’s budget forecasts showed its financial situation is under pressure.