Asian dealers resume dollar selling after Trump rally

HONG KONG, Jan 26 (AFP): The dollar edged back down in Asia on Friday as a Donald Trump-inspired surge petered out with analysts tipping the US unit to continue weakening.

The resumption in the greenback's sell-off reversed early gains in Tokyo, which ended down for a third day, though Hong Kong surged to new peaks in mixed equity trade.

Forex markets have been on a roller-coaster ride the past few days after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent the dollar spiralling to multi-year lows by saying at the Davos meeting of business and political leaders that a weaker unit was "good for us".

That came as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross defended this week's stinging US tariffs on solar panels and warned of further retaliation against nations Washington felt had broken the rules, ramping up fears of a possible global trade war.

Traders rushed back into the greenback, though, after Trump, who arrived at the Swiss resort on Thursday, restated traditional US policy of favouring a strong dollar and said Mnuchin's comments were taken out of context.