By Stanley White
TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar nursed losses against most currencies on Wednesday as traders braced for U.S. data expected to show a slowdown in durable goods orders and a key speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The yuan rose toward a seven-month high after U.S. and Chinese trade officials reaffirmed their commitment to a Phase 1 trade deal, which eased concerns about a diplomatic standoff between the world's two-largest economies.
The greenback took a hit after data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence tumbled to the lowest in more than six years due to concern about the coronavirus-induced job losses.
Traders will look to Powell's speech on Thursday at the annual Jackson Hole retreat to determine what steps the Fed is willing to take to safeguard a fragile economic recovery.
"I expect Powell to use forward guidance to send a dovish message that rates will remain low for a long time, which feeds into dollar weakness," said Minori Uchida, head of global market research at MUFG Bank in Tokyo.
"You could say we are in a long-term correction of excessive dollar strength."
Against the euro (EUR=D3), the dollar stood at $1.1834 in Asia on Wednesday following a 0.4% decline in the previous session.
The British pound
Sterling has managed to shrug off a lack of progress in trade negotiations between Britain and the European Union.
The dollar bought 0.9084 Swiss franc
The dollar managed to hold onto slim gains against the yen
Powell's speech at Jackson Hole - held online due to the coronavirus outbreak - is by far the biggest event of the week, but the data calendar leading up to Thursday has been discouraging.
Data later on Wednesday is forecast to show growth in U.S. durable goods orders slowed in July, following from the U.S. consumer confidence report for August, which fell to the lowest since May 2014 - highlighting policymakers' concerns about the economy.
The onshore yuan
The mood also brightened after Ant Group, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA)'s fintech arm and China's dominant mobile payments firm, filed for a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai to raise as much as $30 billion in what would be the world's largest initial public offering.
Trading in other currencies could be subdued due to a lack of major economic releases during the Asian session.
The Australian dollar
The New Zealand dollar