Investing.com - The Chinese yuan fell against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday in Asia amid conflicting signals on the Sino-U.S. trade war.
The USD/CNY pair traded 0.1% higher to 7.1610 by 11:47 PM ET (03:47 GMT).
Speaking at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had received two phone calls from Chinese officials over the weekend urging new trade talks.
The yuan received some support following his comments, as they eased some fears over the latest escalation in the trade war. However, China’s Foreign Ministry later said it was not aware of any U.S. - China phone calls, raising doubts about whether the two sides would be able to resolve the trade issues in the near future.
The People’s Bank of China lowered its official onshore yuan midpoint to 7.0810 per dollar on Tuesday, a fresh 11-and-a-half-year low.
The safe-haven yen recovered as the latest trade news once again tempered investors' optimism. The USD/JPY pair last traded at 105.68, down 0.4%.
"The dollar rallied overnight due to optimism about a trade deal, but there's a sense that the market has gotten a little ahead of itself," said Junichi Ishikawa, senior foreign exchange strategist at IG Securities, in a Reuters report.
"Some traders can book a little profit here. There are still so many issues that can trigger a clash between the United States and China. Treasuries shows the market is still somewhat skeptical."
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies slipped 0.1% to $97.893.
The AUD/USD pair and the NZD/USD pair were down 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.
The GBP/USD pair slipped 0.1% to 1.2209. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he was prepared to take Brexit discussions with the European Union to the very last minute, and that he would make the decision to leave without a deal if necessary.