* China Nov exports fall as trade war bites
* Pound up on expectations of Conservative win in UK
election
* Focus turns to U.S.-China tariff deadline
* Fed, ECB meet this week, UK election on Thursday
(Recasts throughout, updates rates, adds comments post-U.S.
market open; new byline, changes dateline; previous LONDON)
By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped against the
safe-haven yen and Swiss franc on Monday as weak Chinese export
data dented risk appetite and highlighted the economic damage
from the 17-month-long trade war, while the pound rose on the
latest polls ahead of this week's British election.
China's exports in November shrank for the fourth
consecutive month, underscoring persistent pressures on
manufacturers from the Sino-U.S. trade war.
Against the Japanese yen, which tends to benefit during
geopolitical or financial stress as Japan is the world’s biggest
creditor nation, the dollar was 0.06% lower at 108.53 yen. The
greenback was down 0.1% against the Swiss franc.
A Dec. 15 deadline for the next wave of U.S. tariffs on
Chinese goods fed caution in global markets, supporting the U.S.
dollar against currencies highly sensitive to the trade war such
as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
The Aussie fell 0.12%, while the kiwi slipped 0.03%.
Against the offshore Chinese yuan, the dollar was
up 0.18%.
Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday
that the Dec. 15 deadline is still in place to impose a new
round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese consumer goods, but President
Donald Trump likes where trade talks with China are going.
On Monday, China said that it hoped to make a trade deal
with the United States as soon as possible.
Investors will also be watching central banks ahead of U.S.
Federal Reserve and European Central Bank policy meetings this
week, even though both are expected to leave policy unchanged.
"Unusually, perhaps, the main event risks are not the
central bank meetings due this week or key speaking
engagements," Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank
in Toronto, said in a note.
"Rather, the UK general election and the potential ramping
up of U.S. tariffs over next weekend are likely to influence
market sentiment more significantly than anything else," Osborne
said.
Sterling hit a seven-month high of $1.3180 against the
dollar before paring gains to trade up 0.05% at $1.3143 after
fresh polls showed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's
Conservative Party has extended its lead in opinion polls before
Thursday's election.
The ruling Conservative Party extended its lead over the
opposition Labour Party to 14 percentage points, up from 9 a
week ago, an opinion poll by Survation showed on Monday.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Alexander Smith,
Hugh Lawson and Dan Grebler)