* Euro hits 18-month high of $1.1543, Aussie hits one-year
peak
* Silver soars to a six-year peak
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Marc Jones and Tom Westbrook
LONDON/SINGAPORE, July 22 (Reuters) - The euro traded at an
18-month high on Wednesday as financial markets continued to
bask in the afterglow of the EU recovery fund agreement deal,
while a precious metals boom took silver's recent gains to 20%
and gold to a nine-year high.
News from China that the United States had told it to close
its consulate in Houston caused a bout of risk aversion in
European trading, but stock markets had been consolidating
anyway after their recent surges.
Asian stocks had spent most of the day dithering and
Europe's morning dip .EU added to the list of gyrations
keeping traders occupied.
Silver XAG= gained 5% to a six-year high of $23 per ounce
before profit-taking struck. Gold's XAU= high of $1,865 an
ounce took its gains this month to nearly 20%. GOL/
The euro was perched above $1.15 EUR= for the first time
since early 2019, and despite a minor tick up on the Houston
headlines the dollar =USD was at its lowest against a basket
of the main world currencies since March. /FRX
"With the U.S. struggling with the pandemic, there is a
growing divergence of growth expectations with Europe and Asia
Pacific," said RBC analyst Alvin Tan.
"We'll keep an eye on what is happening in Houston, but the
fact is that in a typical up-cycle for the global economy the
dollar tends to underperform, of course".
China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a
regular daily news briefing that the United States had abruptly
told Beijing on Tuesday to close its consulate "We urge the U.S. to immediately revoke this erroneous
decision," he said. "Should it insist on going down this wrong
path, China will react with firm countermeasures."
China's offshore yuan weakened past 7 per dollar on the news
and was last at 7.0028 CNH=EBS . The dollar index inched up
0.2% from March lows it had hit on Tuesday.
"That headline triggered some profit taking, quite an
aggressive one in USDCNY, USDCNH," said Christy Tan, head of
markets strategy for Asia at National Australia Bank in
Singapore.
"It's a timing issue. All this is coming as tensions between
the U.S. and China are escalating. This added fuel to fire," she
said.
PEDAL TO THE METALS
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX extended its early drop
to stand down 1% by 0900 GMT. Commodity-linked stocks .SXPP
along with travel .SXTP and autos .SXAP provided the biggest
drags with falls of around 2%. .EU
S&P 500 futures ESc1 were down 0.5% following Tuesday's
mixed session on Wall Street, amid concern about rising U.S.
coronavirus cases and political disagreement over the next U.S.
fiscal aid package. .N
The United States reported more than 1,000 deaths from
COVID-19 on Tuesday, the first time that grim milestone has been
passed since June. President Donald Trump warned that things
would probably get worse before they got better. The euro was last at $1.1515 EUR= after going as high as
1.1547, its best since January 2019. The Australian dollar
AUD=D3 held near a year-high of $0.7144 which was bolstered by
upbeat Aussie retail sales data.
Copper prices drooped 1.3% after the Houston headlines
CMCU3 . Shanghai SCFcv1 and Dalian iron ore futures DCIOcv1
rose for a second straight session on expectations of strong
Chinese demand. MET/L IRONORE/
Oil prices remained rangebound, hurt by inventory concerns.
Brent futures LCOc1 slipped 0.4% to $44.14 per barrel and U.S.
crude fell 0.5% to $41.70 a barrel. O/R