· The dollar paused on Wednesday after hitting a 11-month high in the previous session as investors consolidated bets after a recent rally, though concerns over a widening trade dispute between the United States and China kept sentiment on edge.
On Wednesday, the dollar was flat against a basket of its rivals at 95.13, slightly below 95.30 hit in the previous session, its highest since mid-July 2017.
The euro was down 0.15 percent at $1.1574, shaky after slipping to a two-week low of $1.1528 overnight after Draghi called for a patient approach to European monetary policy.
· U.S. President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday he would back either of the immigration bills making their way through the House of Representatives, as the outcry grew over his administration’s separation of immigrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
· Business confidence among Asian companies slipped for the first time in three quarters, on mounting worries that U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies would trigger tit-for-tat reprisals and undermine the global trading system.
The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index, representing a six-month outlook from 61 firms, fell to 74 in the second quarter from a seven-year high of 79 in the prior three months. The survey was conducted over June 1-15.
· A lone Bank of Japan policymaker said additional easing was needed to accelerate inflation, but most members wanted to keep monetary policy unchanged, minutes from the central bank’s policy meeting in April showed on Wednesday.
The BOJ kept policy unchanged at the April meeting but dropped the timeframe it had set for hitting its 2 percent inflation target, in a surprise move analysts say is aimed at keeping market expectations for more stimulus in check.
· Japanese manufacturers’ confidence improved for a second straight month in June but the service sector’s mood slumped from May’s record high level, a Reuters poll found, suggesting some fragility in the outlook after a first-quarter contraction.
The sentiment index for manufacturers stood at 26, up from 22 in May, led by industrial materials producers like oil refiners and steel makers, according to the survey conducted June 4-15.
The manufacturers’ index was down two points versus three months ago. The index is expected to rise to 30 in September.
· Sanctions against North Korea will remain in place until Pyongyang can assure concerned parties such as South Korea that “complete denuclearisation has been achieved”, the South’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
· North Korea could start the process of handing over the remains of troops, including Americans, missing from the Korean War within the next few days, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
· Chinese President Xi Jinping offered high praise to visiting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, lauding the “positive” outcome of his historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and promising unwavering friendship.
· China's state media on Wednesday projected confidence in the country's stock markets in the face of a rout the previous day that was triggered by trade war fears, while over 30 listed firms announced share purchase plans by major shareholders in a bid to stop the bleeding.
· Oil prices rose on Wednesday, supported by a drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories and the loss of storage capacity in oil producer Libya.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 40 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $75.48 per barrel at 0653 GMT, compared with their last close on Tuesday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 gained 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $65.43.
· China’s proposed tariffs on U.S. petroleum imports, part of a mounting trade war between the two countries, would crimp sales to the shale industry’s largest customer, adding new pressure on U.S. crude prices, energy executives and analysts said in interviews this week.
· Gulf oil producers did not agree on the need for any oil output increase during talks on Tuesday night, two sources familiar with the discussion said.
Oil producer group OPEC meets on Friday to decide on output policy amid calls from major consumers such as the United States and China to cool down oil prices and therefore support the global economy by producing more crude.
OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and non-member Russia have proposed relaxing production cuts gradually, while OPEC members Iran, Iraq, Venezuela and Algeria have opposed such a move.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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