U.S. dollar ticks down

The U.S. dollar fell in late trading on Wednesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.04 percent to 98.221 at 15:00. (1900 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1655 dollars from 1.1647 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound lost to 1.3452 dollars from 1.3485 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 147.27 Japanese yen, lower than 147.51 Japanese yen in the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.8040 Swiss francs from 0.8076 Swiss francs, and it added to 1.3872 Canadian dollars from 1.3864 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar declined to 9.5903 Swedish kronor from 9.5950 Swedish kronor.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.