SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The dollar held overnight gains on Friday, as investors clung to the safe-haven pending developments in Sino-U.S. trade negotiations and amid a growing scepticism about reports of progress in the talks.
Movements were slight as investors also looked to a slew of global manufacturing surveys published later in the day for clues on how deeply the U.S.-China trade dispute is hurting the world's economy.
The greenback crept higher against the Japanese yen <JPY=> to 108.58 yen and was steady against the euro <EUR=> at $1.1064. Antipodean currencies were flat on the dollar, with the Aussie <AUD=D3> buying $0.6789 and the kiwi <NZD=D3> $0.6404.
Against a basket of currencies <.DXY> the dollar last treaded at 97.993.
"Trade is the elephant in the room," said Ray Attrill, National Australia Bank's head of FX strategy, though he added that "headline fatigue has set in," limiting volatility in the market's reaction to new information.
Investors had earlier factored in the prospect that a partial truce could be agreed at a mid-November summit in Santiago. But that summit was cancelled and the path forward is now unclear.
China will try hard to resolve the dispute, Commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that top U.S. negotiators had been invited to Beijing for a new round of face-to-face talks, further raising hopes and risk appetite.
However trade experts and people close to the White House told Reuters that negotiations could slide into next year.
"With the constant barrage of seemingly contradictory stuff, the market's given up trying to second-guess the next headline," said Attrill. "We'll trade it once we know what's happening."
China's yuan, which is highly sensitive to trade news, was stable at 7.0303 per dollar in offshore trade <CNH=>.
Elsewhere, the rising dollar kept the British pound <GBP=> below $1.30, while a manifesto from the British Labour Party setting out radical plans to raise tax and nationalise infrastructure also weighed. Sterling last traded at $1.2916.
Purchasing managers indexes are due for Germany, the Eurozone, Britain and the United States later on Friday, offering a reading on the globe's battered manufacturing sector.
"The current narrative has global growth slowing to year end," said Michael McCarthy, chief markets analyst at brokerage CMC Markets in Sydney. "So the real potential is if we see surprises on the upside...it could have direct impact on Euro-U.S. dollar."
(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Sam Holmes)
