Dollar languishes near one-week low after consumer sentiment blow By Reuters

Dollar languishes near one-week low after consumer sentiment blow By Reuters


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A security guard walks past a montage of old U.S. dollar bills outside a currency exchange in Kenya’s capital Nairobi July 23, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar held near a one-week low versus major peers on Monday, after slumping the most in almost seven weeks on Friday as diving U.S. consumer confidence hurt bets for an early tightening of Federal Reserve policy.

The , which measures the greenback against six rivals, was little changed at 92.528, maintaining a 0.50% tumble from the end of last week.

It dipped as far as 109.455 yen for the first time since Aug. 5 on Monday, before trading 0.13% weaker at 109.465.

Against the euro, it was mostly flat at $1.17960, close to the one-week low of $1.18045 reached Friday.

A University of Michigan survey released at the end of last week showed consumer sentiment sliding to the lowest level since 2011 amid an acceleration in COVID-19 infections caused by the fast-spreading Delta variant.

U.S. retail sales data due Tuesday will be closely watched for further clues on consumer behaviour.

“Does the survey signal an imminent turn in the U.S. economy? We doubt it given vaccine efficacy remains high and the hit to sentiment likely means more people will get vaccinated,” Tapas Strickland, an analyst at National Australia Bank (OTC:), wrote in a client note. “Instead, the Delta surge in the U.S. is more a case of delay rather than derail as far as the recovery is concerned.”

The dollar has oscillated with the flow of economic data, with momentum from a jobs market recovery pushing it to a four-month peak on Wednesday, only to see it knocked back by cooling inflation pressures.

Net dollar long positions rose to their highest level since early March last year in the week ended Aug. 10, according to Reuters calculations and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Traders continue to look toward the Fed’s central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this month, for clues to the Fed’s next move.

Ahead of that though, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a virtual town hall meeting with educators and students on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Fed releases minutes of its last policy meeting at the end of July.

The Australian dollar sank 0.25% to $0.7357 on Monday, as COVID-19 lockdowns were extended and tightened. Sydney will see stricter rules, while restrictions spread to the entire state of New South Wales over the weekend.

Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest meeting are due on Tuesday.

The dollar was 0.05% weaker at $0.70345 ahead of a Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s policy meeting on Wednesday, at which economists widely expect the first hike in the benchmark interest rate since 2014.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin edged higher to around $47,700, approaching the three-month high of $48,190 marked over the weekend.

Smaller rival ether rose to a fresh three-month high at $3,340.06.

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Currency bid prices at 0048 GMT

Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid

Previous Change

Session

Euro/Dollar

$1.1795 $1.1794 +0.01% -3.46% +1.1800 +1.1792

Dollar/Yen

109.4600 109.6100 -0.08% +6.03% +109.7400 +109.5200

Euro/Yen

129.10 129.31 -0.16% +1.72% +129.4800 +129.1100

Dollar/Swiss

0.9154 0.9154 +0.01% +3.48% +0.9157 +0.9153

Sterling/Dollar

1.3860 1.3868 -0.04% +1.47% +1.3872 +1.3863

Dollar/Canadian

1.2532 1.2519 +0.10% -1.59% +1.2532 +1.2512

Aussie/Dollar

0.7357 0.7377 -0.26% -4.35% +0.7373 +0.7356

NZ

Dollar/Dollar 0.7035 0.7040 -0.05% -2.01% +0.7043 +0.7036

All spots

Tokyo spots

Europe spots

Volatilities

Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ





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