The US dollar slumped across the board on Tuesday as the stand-off in negotiations to raise the US debt ceiling dragged on, fanning default fears and dimming the greenback's prospects. The US currency hit a record low against the Swiss franc, a traditional safe haven, falling below a key option barrier at 0.80 franc. It also dropped to a four-month trough versus the yen and a three-week low versus the euro.
The dollar hit a record low versus the Swiss franc at 0.79970 on trading platform EBS. It was last at 0.80330 franc, down 0.4 percent on the day, with losses of 4.4 percent so far this month. Against the yen, another safe-haven rival, the dollar also fell, hitting 77.883 yen, its weakest level since mid-March, when major central banks acted in concert to stem the yen's rise. It pulled back to 78.020 yen, down 0.3 percent.
Given deteriorating dollar sentiment, traders said the US currency could test 76.25 yen - the record low hit earlier this year - in the next week. The euro traded as high $1.45229, its strongest since July 5. It was last at $1.44992, up 0.9 percent. Against a currency basket, the dollar fell 0.7 percent to 73.576, after falling as low as 73.526, its weakest since early June.
Comments
Comments are closed.