The Australian dollar strengthened toward $0.660 on Thursday, recouping some losses from the previous session as investors awaited signals from a key meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Hopes of progress in the talks lifted the risk-sensitive Aussie, with the two leaders expected to formalize a trade truce after months of friction. Further support came from a hotter-than-expected domestic inflation print, which tempered expectations for near-term policy easing by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Markets now assign only about a 5% chance of a rate cut at the November 4 meeting and less than 20% for December, reinforcing speculations that the central bank’s shallow easing cycle may have already ended. Meanwhile, gains were capped by a stronger US dollar after Fed Chair Jerome Powell downplayed the likelihood of another rate cut this year.