The Australian dollar slipped towards a 10-year trough while the yen hovered off its lows on Friday, as renewed hope that China and the United States could get their negotiations back on the track began to fade. The U.S. currency was also supported by investors' month-end rebalancing needs, which has helped lift the dollar index to its highest level in a month. The index is last up 0.1% at 98.555. The Australian dollar, often seen as a proxy bet on the Chinese economy, fell 0.31% to $0.67095, about a third of a cent above its 10-year low of $0.66775 hit on Aug. 7. Adding to the Aussie's woes, the country's building approvals unexpectedly plunged to a six-year low. The New Zealand dollar dropped 0.30% to a four-year low of $0.6290. It is the worst-performing G10 currency this month with a fall of 4.1%. The yen held flat at 106.49 per dollar, off this week's low of 106.68 hit the previous day. Risk assets got a mild lift on Thursday after China's commerce ministry said Beijing and Washington were discussing the next round of face-to-face talks in September, but the effect was short-lived. Washington is due to start imposing 15% tariffs on $125 billion worth of goods from China on Sunday, affecting a vast number of consumer items from smart speakers to sneakers. Investors fear the intensifying trade dispute could lead the U.S. economy into a recession, a scenario that has become more of a reality this week after the U.S. bond the yield curve inverted, a highly reliable indicator of a recession.

The price of Bitcoin dipped below $10,000 as cryptocurrencies fell sharply on Wednesday afternoon. Bitcoin fell about $530, or 5%, in a 40-minute span after being mostly flat for the day, according to data from industry site CoinDesk, continuing a volatile year for the world's most valuable cryptocurrency. Fellow cryptocurrency Ethereum also took a similar dive on Wednesday, dropping about 9% during the same time window. It is not clear what triggered the sell offs. Bitcoin was down about 4.3% for the day, while Ethereum slumped 8.3%.