• The euro slid to a new 2018 low on Wednesday as more investors bet on the dollar rising because of relatively higher interest rates, while concerns about the U.S. exit from an international nuclear deal with Iran also supported the greenback.
Trump’s decision to exit the accord was most keenly felt in oil markets, where prices rallied.
The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.1828 versus the dollar, bringing its year-to-date losses to 1.4 percent.
The dollar index rose 0.3 percent to 93.377, its strongest since late December.
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.6 percent to 109.74.
• Euro zone money markets now price roughly a 75 percent chance of a 10 basis point hike from the European Central Bank by mid-2019, scaling back bets on a rate rise next year given a softening in economic data and inflation numbers.
While markets fully anticipate a rate hike by July next year the timing of a rate hike has been pushed back sharply in recent weeks as some data have shown a loss in economic momentum.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited China and met President Xi Jinping, state media of both countries said on Tuesday, their second encounter in two months in a flurry of diplomatic engagement that has eased tensions on the Korean peninsula.
They met on Monday and Tuesday in the coastal city of Dalian ahead of what would be a historic meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump that the White House has said could take place as soon as this month.
During the visit, announced only after it was over, Kim told Xi he hoped relevant parties would take “phased” and “synchronised” measures to realise denuclearisation and lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.
• China’s commerce ministry said on Wednesday Vice Premier Liu He will go to the United States to discuss trade at an appropriate time, accepting an invitation from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
• France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that the 2015 nuclear restraint deal with Iran was “not dead” despite Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out from the agreement, and added that French President Emmanuel Macron would speak later in the day to Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.
• President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upsetting European allies and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies.
• The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea meet in Tokyo on Wednesday in a powerful gesture of solidarity against the backdrop of historic diplomatic moves by North Korea and a push for the isolated country to give up its nuclear weapons.
Last held in Seoul in 2015, the three-way summit has regularly brought together the neighbours, but this week’s gathering comes amid an unusual period of calm for ties often beset by territorial and historical disputes.
• Asia’s petroleum refiners are scrambling to find alternative supplies as they prepare for renewed U.S. sanctions against major oil exporter Iran amid an already tight market.
The United States plans to impose new unilateral sanctions after abandoning an agreement reached in late 2015 which limited Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for removing joint U.S.-Europe sanctions, which included strict curbs on crude oil exports.
• Oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Wednesday, hitting 3-1/2-year highs, after U.S. President Trump abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran and announced the “highest level” of sanctions against the OPEC member.
Brent crude oil touched its highest since November 2014 at $77.20 a barrel. The benchmark contract was up $2.15 a barrel, or more than 2.8 percent, at $77.00 by 0730 GMT.
U.S. light crude was up $1.90 a barrel, or almost 2.8 percent, at $70.96, near highs also last seen in late 2014.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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