Mubasher: US dollar rose on Wednesday on fears that US President Donald Trump would soon ratchet up trade tension with Beijing by levying tariffs on further Chinese goods.

US President Trump would implement the recently proposed tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese imports as soon as the period for public commentary on the measure ends on Thursday, 6 September. 

Wary of the deadline, investor appetite went for the US dollar, with its status as a reserve for value on Wednesday, leading the greenback to rise against major currencies, including the euro (EUR) and the British pound (GBP).

Moreover, the US currency found more support from anticipated US indicators underlying the case for further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed).

Along with the trade row between the US and China, Turkey's currency crisis drove traders to seek the US dollar as a safe haven.

As of 11:00 GMT, the US dollar index, a tracker for the greenback against six major currencies, ticked up 0.1% to 95.442.

By 12:08 pm GMT, the index inched up 0.3% to 95.4700, exceeding the two-week high of 95.373 reached during the previous session.

The euro inched down 0.1% to $1.1597, while the pound went down 0.2% to $1.2827.

At 12:03 pm GMT, the EUR/USD pair remained stable at $1.1582, while the GBP/USD pair fell 0.26% to $1.2822.

In addition, emerging market currencies fell overnight on worries that export-reliant economies would be caught in the middle of any escalation in trade conflict.

“As long as the United States and China are quarrelling, it’s easy for commodity prices to fall, and commodity and emerging market currencies are easily sold as well,” Daiwa Securities chief currency strategist Yukio Ishizuki told Thomson Reuters.

The US dollar climbed by over 2% against the South African rand (ZAR) and the Argentine peso (ARS).

However, the Japanese yen (JPY) went up 0.13% against the greenback to JPY 111.5500 by 12:12 pm GMT.