This weekend, the Russian currency strengthened against the dollar, while the Chinese yuan reached its highest level in two weeks.

The Russian ruble strengthened on Thursday against the US dollar and the Chinese yuan, boosted by rising oil prices and by the announcement by the European Union that it was abandoning the idea of sanctions on Russian imports of liquefied natural gas. At 08:25 GMT, the ruble was up about 1% to 82.20 against the dollar. The ruble, supported by optimism about the easing of tensions between Russia and the United States, has risen by 37% against the dollar since the beginning of the year while the dollar has weakened by 27% against the ruble during the same period

The Chinese yuan strengthened on Friday to a peak of more than two weeks against the dollar, supported by a general weakness in the greenback and some initial signs of de-escalation in the trade war between the United States and China. The onshore yuan hit a high of 7.2855 per dollar during morning trading, the highest level since April 3, before changing hands at 7.2941 at 03:04 GMT.