Market News

Dollar bulls helped to push the U.S. Dollar higher and close to a 6-month peak versus a weighted basket of its peers with FX traders saying that repatriation of funds by U.S. corporations as the month draws to a close may have helped to push the greenback higher in the absence of any key economic data.

The U.S. Dollar Index, used by investors to gauge the relative value of the greenback to its major peers, remained within striking distance of a 6-month high as investors await the Federal Reserve’s policy review which is due out on Wednesday.

In Asian trading, the U.S. Dollar Index held close to a 6-month peak while the greenback managed to hold onto last week’s gains against the Euro.

Unexpectedly strong labor data from the U.S. helped to keep the U.S. Dollar supported versus the Japanese Yen.

As widely expected by analysts in a recent poll, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced on Wednesday that it would raise its cash rate to 3.5%, an increase of 25 basis points.

Expectations continue to grow higher that the European Central Bank is poised to provide additional accommodation which will further weaken the Euro; as a result, in preparation for that likelihood, the Euro fell broadly in Asian trading.

Risk aversion is waning slightly with the result that safe haven currencies traded within a narrow trading band during the Asian session.

The start of the trading week began in Asia with calm following an escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet, a casualty of the Ukraine-Russian conflict.

The downing of a Malaysian passenger jet along the border of Russia and the Ukraine, as well as an escalation of geopolitical tensions in Israel and Gaza have sent investors rushing to the Japanese Yen, pushing the safe haven currency higher by 0.5% against the U.S. Dollar and to a 5-month peak versus the Euro.

The common currency held close to a 5-month trough versus the Japanese Yen and a multi-year low against the Pound Sterling after falling broadly on the back of disappointing economic data from Germany.

With the eyes of the world’s investors focused squarely on Washington, D.C., Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen reiterated that, for the time being, the central bank would maintain its current ultra loose monetary policy

The U.S. Dollar remains range-bound as FX traders wait to hear what Janet Yellen, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank, will have to say at her testimony before the U.S. Congress which will take place later today.

FX traders remain wary of the Australian Dollar following RBA Governor Glenn Stevens’ recently published interview in which he states that investors seem to be underestimating the threat of a too strong Aussie Dollar that could,

The possibility that the Portuguese banking system may be on the verge of a crisis which could have wide spread implications for the Eurozone banking system has sent FX investors flocking to the safe haven Japanese Yen which, as a result, is poised to close out the week higher.

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve Bank released the minutes from June’s policy meeting which offered some relief to investors who were anxious to determine whether the Fed would take on a hawkish bias or not.