* U.S. and China expected to sign trade deal on Wednesday
* U.S. labels Switzerland a currency manipulator, removes
China
* U.S. consumer prices rose slightly in December
(Adds report on Chinese tariffs, updates prices)
By Karen Brettell
NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - China's yuan weakened on
Tuesday and the Japanese yen reversed earlier losses after a
report that the United States will keep tariffs on Chinese goods
through the U.S. election hurt risk sentiment.
The news came a day before the signing of a preliminary
U.S.-China trade agreement to ease an 18-month-old trade war.
Bloomberg News reported that the United States will review
and remove existing tariffs no sooner than 10 months after the
deal is signed. The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday reversed its
designation of China as a currency manipulator in what has been
seen as a conciliatory gesture ahead of the deal signing.
Risk sentiment has improved and demand for safe-haven assets
like the yen have decreased on signs that the two countries are
closer to de-escalating the trade war that has been blamed as a
major headwind to global growth.
The trade deal "doesn't address the structural issues, but
at least for markets it reduces some of the stress and some of
the anxiety and uncertainty that plagued the markets throughout
2019," said Mark McCormick, North American head of FX strategy
at TD Securities in Toronto.
The yen JPY= gained to 109.92 after rising to 110.2, the
most yen per dollar since May 23.
The offshore yuan CNH= weakened to 6.89, after rising to
6.87 per dollar, the strongest since July 11.
The Swiss franc CHF= also hit session highs of 0.966 on
safety buying, a day after the United States added Switzerland
to its watchlist of currency manipulators. The greenback rose against the euro as year-end rebalancing
that had benefited the single currency at the expense of the
dollar continued to be unwound.
"We are getting some of the reversal of that, along with, I
think the macro story in Europe is still generally weak,"
McCormick said.
The euro EUR= has fallen to $1.1130 from a five-month high
of $1.1239 on Dec. 31.
Data on Tuesday showed that U.S. consumer prices rose
slightly in December and monthly underlying inflation pressures
retreated, which could allow the Federal Reserve to keep
interest rates unchanged at least through this year. The next major U.S. economic focus will be retail sales on
Thursday.
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Currency bid prices at 2:22PM (1922 GMT)
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1130 $1.1133 -0.03% -0.70% +1.1144 +1.1105
Dollar/Yen JPY= 109.9200 109.9300 -0.01% +0.97% +110.2000 +109.8700
Euro/Yen EURJPY= 122.36 122.40 -0.03% +0.34% +122.7500 +122.2000
Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9664 0.9707 -0.44% -0.14% +0.9713 +0.9666
Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.3028 1.2988 +0.31% -1.74% +1.3030 +1.2955
Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3049 1.3056 -0.05% +0.49% +1.3079 +1.3047
Australian/Doll AUD= 0.6902 0.6903 -0.01% -1.69% +0.6909 +0.6886
Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0760 1.0806 -0.43% -0.85% +1.0820 +1.0760
Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8542 0.8572 -0.35% +1.04% +0.8595 +0.8542
NZ NZD= 0.6616 0.6629 -0.20% -1.78% +0.6634 +0.6604
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway NOK= 8.8696 8.8953 -0.29% +1.04% +8.9043 +8.8650
Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.8726 9.9040 -0.32% +0.35% +9.9119 +9.8680
Dollar/Sweden SEK= 9.4523 9.4635 -0.12% +1.12% +9.4782 +9.4498
Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.5238 10.5360 -0.12% +0.52% +10.5589 +10.5150