By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was up on Thursday morning, with investors turning to the safe-haven asset as U.S.-China tensions flared up overnight.
In its latest move, the U.S. suspended flights into the U.S. by Chinese airlines effective from June 16 after China barred American carriers from re-entering China.
Relations between the two countries soured after China approved the enactment of national security laws in Hong Kong and Macau last month.
Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has started voting on national anthem bill, a precursor to the national security laws.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies gained 0.21% to 97.465 by 12:12 AM ET (5:12 AM GMT).
The USD/JPY pair was up 0.11% to 109 and the USD/CNY pair was up 0.20% to 7.1260.
The AUD/USD pair lost 0.33% to 0.6896. Australia’s Bureau of Statistics said earlier in the day that retail sales for April fell by a seasonally adjusted 17.7% in April.
The bureau also said that GDP fell 0.3% during the first quarter of 2020 on Wednesday.
The NZD/USD pair slid 0.09% to 0.6413 and the GBP/USD pair lost 0.28% to 1.2536.