Investing.com - The Chinese yuan was little changed on Thursday in Asia after better-than-expected trade numbers for January, as analysts warned of the presence of business distortions due to national holidays and cyclical trends.
The USD/CNY pair last traded at 6.7615 by 12:01 AM ET (05:01 GMT), up 0.04%.
January exports unexpectedly grew 9.1% from a year earlier, compared to expectations for a drop of 3.2%, data from China’s General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.
Imports fell 1.5%, much less than the expected 10% fall and narrowing from December’s 7.6% drop.
That left the country with a trade surplus of $39.16 billion for the month, better than forecasts of $33.5 billion.
The data seemed to have little impact on Chinese stocks and the yuan today. Some analysts cautioned that data published in the first months of the year must be treated with caution, as it generally looks better due to seasonal factors and business distortions caused by the long Lunar New Year holidays.
Looking ahead, investors will likely focus on the outcome of the latest round of trade negotiations with the U.S., which is scheduled to conclude on Friday in Beijing.
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies slipped 0.1% to 96.893.
The Labor Department said on Thursday its consumer price index was flat for January, after edging up 0.1% in the prior month. But core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 2.2% for the year through January, above forecasts for a 2.1% increase.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar was up 0.5% against the U.S. dollar, having gained about 0.5% in the previous session on optimism about the China-U.S. trade talks.
The NZD/USD pair extended its rally and gained 0.6% after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand adopted a less dovish line on policy on Wednesday.
The USD/JPY pair was up 0.1%.