NEW YORK: The dollar rose on Monday in tight trading, adding to Friday's gains against the euro and other European currencies as investors pursued riskier European assets and awaited a packed slate of upcoming central bank meetings this week.
After last week's trading that saw the continental currency move in its largest range since December and matching any of its most volatile days in the past five years, Monday morning's moves were generally muted.
"It seems like the market has sort of stabilized itself in the former trading range we had before (European Central Bank President Mario) Draghi made the market move in such a fashion," said Fabian Eliasson, vice president for currency sales at Mizuho Corporate Bank in New York.
Eliasson added that he expected both the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve to hold interest rates steady, continuing Monday's placid tone.
"I think everything this week is going to be wait and see until Wednesday, leading up to the Fed decision," he said, "which I think is going to be no decision. But we'll see."
Traders will also be watching for interest rate decisions from the Swiss, Australian and Norwegian central banks this week, along with the Bank of England. These meetings are likely to provide a test of central banks' ability to successfully manage market expectations, analysts said.
The euro was little moved by German election results over the weekend in which Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservative CDU party received a drubbing from the right-wing Action for Germany, analysts said.
Nevertheless, the euro fell 0.4 percent to trade at $1.1105 , hurt in part by rising stock markets in Europe, which surged more than 3 percent since their close Thursday after Draghi announced a series of bold easing steps by the ECB. Those steps included an expansion in asset buying and a deeper cut to already negative deposit rates.
The dollar rose broadly against major European currencies on Monday. Against the Swiss franc, it added 0.4 percent to 0.9875 franc. Sterling also fell against the dollar, shedding 0.4 percent to $1.4332.
The greenback advanced against commodity-linked currencies as well, rebounding against the higher-yielding Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars, which each gained around 2 percent last week as prices for oil, copper and iron ore rose.
The dollar rose 0.6 percent against both the Aussie and the loonie. It added 0.9 percent against the kiwi .
Comments
Comments are closed.