U.S. Dollar steadies as traders await Fed meeting

The U.S. dollar steadied on Friday in Asia as traders await The Federal Reserve meeting due next week.

The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was up 0.06% to 97.060 by 12:10 AM ET (04:10 GMT).

The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged at its meeting on June 19, but markets believe the likelihood of a rate cut before the end of the year has increased due to slowing inflation and rising trade tensions.

On the Sino-U.S. trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to set a deadline on increasing import tariffs on Chinese goods, insisting that the two countries would eventually make a deal but taking responsibility for the delay in the meantime.

“I have no deadline. My deadline is what’s up here,” he said, pointing to his head at a press conference on Wednesday.

He previously said a deal would not be signed unless China returns to terms agreed earlier this year.

U.S. retail sales data, which is due later in the day, is also expected to be in focus.

The USD/CNY pair was up 0.04% to 6.9198.

China will release May industrial production along with retail sales and investment numbers at 0700 GMT.

Markets expect industrial production in China to have risen 5.5% in May from 5.4% in April and believe retail sales increased 8.1% from 7.2% the previous month.

The AUD/USD pair fell 0.2% to 0.6900. The NZD/USD pair decline 0.5% to 0.6535.

The USD/JPY pair slipped 0.1% to 108.30.