AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 132.66 Increased By ▲ 3.13 (2.42%)
BOP 6.89 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (3.14%)
CNERGY 4.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.3%)
DCL 8.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.22%)
DFML 42.75 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (2.54%)
DGKC 84.00 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.27%)
FCCL 32.90 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.4%)
FFBL 77.06 Increased By ▲ 1.59 (2.11%)
FFL 12.20 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (6.36%)
HUBC 110.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-0.49%)
HUMNL 14.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-1.1%)
KEL 5.53 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.6%)
KOSM 8.32 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.95%)
MLCF 39.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.3%)
NBP 65.50 Increased By ▲ 5.21 (8.64%)
OGDC 198.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.46%)
PAEL 26.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-2.44%)
PIBTL 7.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.52%)
PPL 159.00 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (0.68%)
PRL 26.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-1.83%)
PTC 18.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.6%)
SEARL 82.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.24%)
TELE 8.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.29%)
TOMCL 34.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.32%)
TPLP 8.98 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.88%)
TREET 16.88 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-3.38%)
TRG 59.49 Decreased By ▼ -1.83 (-2.98%)
UNITY 27.52 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.33%)
WTL 1.40 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.45%)
BR100 10,614 Increased By 206.9 (1.99%)
BR30 31,874 Increased By 160.5 (0.51%)
KSE100 98,972 Increased By 1644 (1.69%)
KSE30 30,784 Increased By 591.7 (1.96%)
Markets

Dollar gains across the board as Powell sticks to script

  • The Swiss franc fell to a seven-month low of 0.93110 francs per dollar and was flat at 0.92765.
  • We didn't get it and the dollar is pushing higher across the board on expectations of further increases in US yields.
Published March 5, 2021

LONDON: The dollar rose to multi-month highs against the euro, yen and Swiss franc on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed no concern about a recent sell-off in bonds.

Speaking at a Wall Street Journal forum, Powell stuck to his stance of keeping interest rates low until the economy has recovered, adding that the sell-off in Treasuries was not "disorderly".

The Swiss franc fell to a seven-month low of 0.93110 francs per dollar and was flat at 0.92765 by 1153 GMT. The euro slipped 0.3% to a three-month low of $1.19345.

"The US dollar rose sharply higher post-Powell comments (as) many in the market I sense were looking for stronger rhetoric from the Fed to put a break on further rallies in yields," said Neil Jones, head of FX sales at Mizuho Bank.

"We didn't get it and the dollar is pushing higher across the board on expectations of further increases in US yields."

The dollar index rose 0.3% to 91.907, a three-month high. Its gains came as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumped back above 1.5%. Last week, the Treasury yield soared to a one-year peak of 1.614%.

Versus the yen, the dollar rose 0.4% to a nine-month high of 108.39 yen.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso declined to comment on the yen's decline when asked about how the depreciation would affect the economy.

"With the BOJ's (Governor) Kuroda saying that the BOJ has no need to change its yield guidance, the yen is, along with the Swiss franc, taking the brunt of the dollar's yield-fuelled recovery," said Kit Juckes, chief FX strategist at Societe Generale. "Both look cheap, but the yen in particular isn't cheap enough yet".

A rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and impending US fiscal stimulus have boosted confidence in an economic recovery, adding fuel to expectations of higher inflation.

Riskier currencies, including the Australian and New Zealand dollars, slid along with stocks as investor sentiment again turned sour.

The Aussie weakened 0.6% to $0.76690, an almost one-month low. The kiwi fell 0.7% to $0.7133.

Sterling briefly fell below $1.38 to a three-week low. It was last down 0.5% at $1.3826

In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin fell 1.8% to $47,493. Ethereum dropped 3.9% to $1,478.03.

Comments

Comments are closed.