Investors await outcome of Trump-Xi meeting at G20 summit...

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    • Investors await outcome of Trump-Xi meeting at G20 summit
    • U.S.-Iran tension underpins safe-haven support for yen
    • Dollar remains pressured by bets on multiple U.S. rate cuts
    • Bitcoin breaks $11,000 for first time since March 2018
    • Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

    (Updates market action)

    The dollar softened against a basket of currencies on Monday on bets the U.S. Federal Reserve may lower interest rates more than once this year, while tensions between Iran and the United States provided safe-haven support for the yen.

    Bitcoin extended its torrid weekend run, when it broke above $11,000 for the first time since March 2018.

    The world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency has risen nearly 200% this year as Facebook's FB.O plan to introduce its Libra digital coin stoked optimism about widening usage of virtual currencies.

    Investors awaited whether U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping would at least call a truce in their trade war at the G20 summit in Japan later this week.

    "Today's session is wedged between the Fed's dovish turn last week and the G20 later this week," said Brian Daingerfield, head of G10 FX strategy, Americas in Stamford, Connecticut. "With the G20, it's hard to have confidence in the direction for the market."

    Markets believe that if Washington and Beijing fail to dial back their heated rhetoric on trade, then the Fed will be forced to cut interest rates to prevent a wider economic slowdown resulting from higher U.S. tariffs on imports.

    Both China and the United States should make compromises in trade talks, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said on Monday.

    Interest rates futures implied traders priced in a 100% chance the Fed would cut rates at the end of July, while they are betting on a high probability it might lower rates two more times after that, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.

    Expectations of falling U.S. rates have weakened the greenback. An index that tracks the dollar against a group of six currencies .DXY fell 1.57% last week, its biggest weekly loss in four months. At 2:57 p.m. (1857 GMT), the dollar index dipped 0.24% at 95.985.

    The latest weekly positioning data confirmed the view of a weakening dollar. Hedge funds have turned mildly bearish on the greenback, and have increased bets on weakness in other currencies such as the Australian dollar as their outlook on the global economy has soured.

    Meanwhile, the yen retreated from its strongest levels against the dollar since January after Trump called off a U.S. military strike against Iran last week, but tensions between the two nations remain high.

    Trump on Monday imposed new sanctions on Iran in a bid to curb its nuclear program. The yen JPY=EBS was steady at 107.31 per dollar after reaching 107.045 on Friday as nervous traders piled into the safe-haven currency.

    Among digital currencies, bitcoin BTC=BTSP rose 1.44% to $10,987.81 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

    ======================================================== 
    	Currency bid prices at 1457 EDT (1857 GMT): 
    
     Description	  RIC	   Last	   U.S.	  Pct	  YTD Pct  High Bid   Low Bid 
    									   Close	 Change   Change			   
    									   Previous								
    									   Session								 
     Euro/Dollar	  EUR=	  $1.1400	$1.1366   +0.30%   -0.61%   +1.1403	+1.1363 
     Dollar/Yen	   JPY=	  107.2900   107.3000  -0.01%   -2.69%   +107.5300  +107.2600 
     Euro/Yen		 EURJPY=   122.31	 121.98	+0.27%   -3.10%   +122.3900  +122.0000 
     Dollar/Swiss	 CHF=	  0.9719	 0.9762	-0.44%   -0.99%   +0.9782	+0.9711 
     Sterling/Dollar  GBP=	  1.2744	 1.2740	+0.03%   -0.10%   +1.2766	+1.2709 
     Dollar/Canadian  CAD=	  1.3188	 1.3221	-0.25%   -3.29%   +1.3221	+1.3178 
     Australian/Doll  AUD=	  0.6966	 0.6923	+0.62%   -1.18%   +0.6968	+0.6929 
     ar																			
    
     Euro/Swiss	   EURCHF=   1.1079	 1.1099	-0.18%   -1.56%   +1.1130	+1.1066 
     Euro/Sterling	EURGBP=   0.8943	 0.8923	+0.22%   -0.46%   +0.8960	+0.8920 
     NZ			   NZD=	  0.6617	 0.6587	+0.46%   -1.49%   +0.6626	+0.6582 
     Dollar/Dollar																 
    
     Dollar/Norway	NOK=	  8.4761	 8.4950	-0.22%   -1.88%   +8.5106	+8.4703 
     Euro/Norway	  EURNOK=   9.6619	 9.6627	-0.01%   -2.47%   +9.6860	+9.6493 
     Dollar/Sweden	SEK=	  9.2764	 9.3509	-0.52%   +3.49%   +9.3548	+9.2760 
     Euro/Sweden	  EURSEK=   10.5757	10.6307   -0.52%   +3.04%   +10.6396   +10.5714 
    
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    GRAPHIC-Trade tensions boost U.S. rate-cut expectations	http//tmsnrt.rs/2KdE2by 
    

    GRAPHIC-Trade tensions boost U.S. rate-cut expectations interactive http//tmsnrt.rs/2KdDNxa GRAPHIC-CFTC currency market positionings http//tmsnrt.rs/2ZOx6GB GRAPHIC-Bitcoin http//tmsnrt.rs/2FtlEby GRAPHIC-Bitcoin interactive http//tmsnrt.rs/2FuAK0t

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