Aussie dollar falls as US, China delay trade meeting; sterling falls

LONDON: The Australian dollar fell on Thursday after reports that a meeting between China and the United States to end their trade war had been delayed.

The meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping won't occur this month and is more likely to happen in April at the earliest, Bloomberg reported.

The Australian dollar reacted the most to the report, falling to its lowest in three days at $0.7049, down 0.6 percent on the day.

Concern remains that any escalation in the trade conflict will hit hard export-oriented economies such as Australia, whose biggest trading partner is China.

The yuan was relatively stable in the offshore market. At 1030 GMT it was down half a percent at 6.7353, not far from a one-month low of 6.7372

The dollar gained for the first time in a week as the pound fell after a vote on Brexit that failed to deliver much clarity on where Britain's relationship with the European Union was headed.

The pound had soared nearly 2 percent late on Wednesday after British lawmakers voted against a potentially disorderly "no-deal" departure from the European Union.

The pound was down 0.9 percent at $1.3208 at 1040 GMT. Traders are bracing for a parliamentary vote later today that's expected to call for a short delay to Brexit.

Analysts cautioned against betting on sterling strength. Uncertainty remains about what form Brexit will take, less than three weeks before Britain's scheduled departure from the EU on March 29. British lawmakers are expected to vote on Thursday to delay that departure.

"The most sensible approach seems to be to hedge sterling's downside risks, which we deem to be larger than the remaining upside potential over the next couple of months," UBS said in a note to clients.

The dollar index, a gauge of its strength against six other major currencies, was up 0.2 percent at 96.769. It shed 0.4 percent overnight, at one point brushing a nine-day trough of 96.385.