Pound, Dollar Little Changed; Brexit Woes, Sino-U.S. Trade War in Focus

Investing.com - The British pound and the U.S. dollar were little changed on Wednesday in Asia. Developments on the Sino-U.S. trade front and Brexit remained in focus.The GBP/USD pair was largely unchanged at 1.2215 by 12:01 AM ET (04:01 GMT) today, after tumbling 0.7% to a one-month low in the previous session. Hopes that a Brexit deal would be struck decreased further after the U.K. government blamed German Chancellor Angela Merkel of making any type of Brexit agreement impossible.According to Bloomberg, Merkel told Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Northern Ireland has to remain part of the customs union in any deal, which Johnson says has paved the way for a no-deal Brexit. A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank concluded on Tuesday that the budget deficit could rise to 4% of gross domestic product if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a transitional agreementSino-U.S. trade developments also remained in focus. High-level officials are due to meet this Thursday for a new round of trade negotiations. Just days before the meeting begin, the U.S. announced that it blacklisted eight Chinese companies for their role in China’s alleged repression of ethnic Uighurs in the western province of Xinjiang.Tensions rose further after China said its state broadcaster will suspend broadcasts of NBA games in response to Commissioner Adam Silver’s defense of a tweet by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey that expressed support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong."I am an American and there are these values that are deeply rooted in the DNA of the NBA and that includes freedom of expression for its employees," Silver told a news conference in Japan.The USD/CNY pair inched up 0.02% to 7.1434, while the U.S. dollar index slipped 0.03% to 98.792.