Australian dollar falls to 2-1 / 2 years, trade fears hitting sentiment

LONDON (Reuters) – The Australian dollar has fallen to its lowest level in more than two and a half years since fears of an escalating trade dispute between the US and China dominated worries as yen currencies won.

With a public comment period for proposed US tariffs on an additional $ 200 billion worth of Chinese imports ending at 4:00 am GMT, the markets fell as investors waited for a fresh salvo in the Sino-US trade war.

Ulrich Leuchtmann, a currency strategist at Frankfurt's Commerzbank, said worries were growing over the safe-haven currencies and that markets would remain focused on trade war securities as the next US economic statistics, unless there was surprise down.

An emerging markets currency index edged up on Friday, but is expected to record its largest weekly loss in three weeks.

Among developed currencies, the Australian dollar has fallen more than 0.5% to its lowest level since February 2016, to 0.7138 dollar, fearing that any escalation of the trade dispute is hard on export economies such as the United States. ;Australia.

The yuan has been relatively stable in the offshore market in Hong Kong, as rising overnight borrowing costs have deterred short sellers of the Chinese currency.

The US currency has maintained relatively tight ranges compared to other large companies such as the euro and the pound, as the market prepares for the much anticipated US jobs report due later in the session.

August The report on US non-farm payrolls is due at 12:30 GMT. The US economy is expected to have created about 191,000 jobs in August, with average earnings at 0.2% mom, down from 0.3% in July.

The Federal Reserve is ready to raise interest rates this month, its third monetary tightening in 2018, and employment data should influence investors' short-term interest rate outlooks.

As markets wait for the next round of China-US trade conflict, the US president has hinted to a Wall Street Journal columnist that he could tackle trade problems with Japan. according to the CNBC television channel.

The euro and the pound sterling were broadly stable against the dollar, at $ 1.1639 and $ 1.2938 respectively.