Investing.com - The Chinese yuan traded near flat against the U.S. dollar on Friday in Asia as traders are paying close attention to developments at the G-20.
The USD/CNY pair was down 0.04% to 6.8724 by 11:50 AM ET (03:50 GMT).
Investor sentiment improved somewhat after the South China Morning Post reported yesterday that China and the U.S. have agreed to a truce ahead of the meeting, while The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to present U.S. President Donald Trump with a list of demands, including lifting the ban on U.S. companies selling to Huawei.
Dai Bing, the foreign ministry’s Director General for African Affairs, said Xi condemned "bullying practices" in a meeting with African leaders ahead of the summit.
“Any attempt to put one’s own interests first and undermine others’ will not win any popularity,” Xi said, according to Dai.
Meanwhile, CNBC reported U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Chinese Premier Liu He in a phone call that balance will not happen, citing various violations of intellectual property in the past.
Trump is set to hold the much-anticipated trade talks with Xi at 11:30 AM ET on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was also little changed as jobless claims came in higher than expected.
Initial jobless claims rose 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 227,000 for the week ending June 22, the Labor Department said. Economists were looking for a smaller rise to 220,000.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies last traded at 95.752, up 0.01%.
The USD/JPY pair was down 0.1% to 107.63. Trump confirmed today that he will discuss with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G-20 and he expects “very big trade deal” will be announced.
The AUD/USD pair and the NZD/UDS pair both traded near flat at 0.7009 and 0.6697 respectively.