U.S. dollar rises as trade tensions ease

NEW YORK, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar index traded higher on Tuesday as the trade tensions between the United States and China receded.

Market expectations for a trade war decreased after Chinese Vice Premier Liu He had a phone conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday, urging concerted efforts to maintain the stability of China-U.S. trade ties.

Mnuchin said on Sunday that he was "cautiously hopeful" an agreement can be reached with China, according to Fox News.

Trade concerns appeared to abate even more after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comments Monday.

"There is no winner in a trade war," Li said, calling for a rational and earnest attitude when addressing the problem of China-U.S. trade imbalance.

Li urged the international community to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system with free trade as its cornerstone, and oppose protectionism and unilateralism.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.39 percent at 89.372 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to 1.2401 dollars from 1.2456 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was down to 1.4154 dollars from 1.4228 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to 0.7687 dollar from 0.7734 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 105.52 Japanese yen, higher than 105.25 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.9471 Swiss franc from 0.9448 Swiss franc, and it rose to 1.2876 Canadian dollars from 1.2867 Canadian dollars. Enditem