Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was near flat on Wednesday in Asia as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting due later in the day.
The US Dollar Index that tracks a basket of other currencies last traded at 97.9by 1:20 AM ET (05:20 GMT), up 0.02%.
Hopes for trade progress were dashed overnight by another warning from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that he may raise tariffs even further if talks collapse.
Tensions between the two sides rose even further after the U.S. Senate passed two Hong Kong-related bills that support protesters in the city.
China's foreign ministry spokesman called the decision a blatant interference in China's internal affairs, and said the U.S. faced "negative consequences" if it persisted.
CNBC reported earlier this week that Beijing is pessimistic about reaching an agreement with the U.S.
"Trade headlines is dominating sentiment but in terms of the key event risk, the release of the Fed minutes will be a big one for market participants," said Morten Lund, a senior FX strategist at Nordea in a Reuters report.
The USD/CNY pair inched up 0.1% to 7.0277.
The AUD/USD pair fell 0.2% to 0.6813. Minutes published on Tuesday showed that the Reserve Bank of Australia "agreed a case could be made" for another cut in the 0.75% cash rate at its November meeting.
The NZD/USD pair also dropped 0.2% to 0.6419.
The USD/JPY pair was little changed at 108.51. Ministry of Finance data showed today that Japan’s exports fell 9.2% in October from a year ago, a bigger decline than the expected 7.6% drop.