Dollar on defensive, Asia shares make fresh highs

 The dollar stayed on the defensive on Wednesday as investors wagered any further tightening in the United States would be slow at best, while optimism on China's economy underpinned Asian shares and commodities. The U.S. currency was near multi-month lows after the collapse of the Republicans' push to overhaul healthcare dealt a blow to President Donald Trump's ability to pass promised tax cuts and infrastructure spending. The diminished prospect of fiscal spending was a boon to bonds, especially as a run of soft U.S. inflation results had lessened the risk that the Federal Reserve would need to be aggressive in removing its stimulus. As a result yields on 10-year Treasury notes were down at 2.266 percent, having fallen 13 basis points in little more than a week. That in turn undermined the U.S. dollar which hit its lowest since September against a basket of currencies. Early Wednesday it had steadied for the moment at 94.689, but was still down over 7 percent on the year so far. Future & Option Trading Tips