Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was flat on Friday in holiday-thinned trade as U.S-China trade progress remained in focus. But Latin American currencies rermained active, with Brazil's real seeing more sharp moves.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law backing Hong Kong protests on Wednesday despite potential backlash from Beijing as the two superpowers try to resolve their trade differences. Chinese officials have threatened to take “firm countermeasures” and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng demanded that Washington immediately stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs.
The law threatens to derail progress on trade talks, with the next batch of American tariffs on Chinese goods due to begin on Dec. 15.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was steady at 98.36 as of 10:32 AM ET (15:32 GMT). The dollar was flat against the safe-haven Japanese yen, with USD/JPY at 109.50.
Trading was thin due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, with most investors off until Monday.
But in Brazil the real saw another slump, with USD/BRL up 1.01% to 4.2324, despite intervention by the country's central bank. The currency hit an all-time low of 4.277 this week following an essentially failed "mega" oil auction accelerated the real's decline.
Meanwhile the pound inched up, with GBP/USD rising 0.1% to 1.2917 and EUR/USD unmoved at 1.1010.