SINGAPORE: The US dollar found a footing on Monday as soft economic data in China and climbing oil prices jangled investors' nerves that inflation will drive interest rates higher.
In the Asia session the greenback climbed a touch along with US yields to arrest a dip it suffered last week. It rose about 0.2% against the euro and about 0.1% against the yen to take the Japanese currency close to a fresh three-year low.
The kiwi was an outlier, having jumped almost 0.5% to a one-month high of $0.7105 before easing back to flat at $0.7071 after a decade-high quarterly inflation reading.
Sterling also managed to hold on close to steady after hawkish weekend remarks from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey who said policymakers "will have to act" as energy prices drive consumer prices higher.
China's economic growth hit its slowest pace in a year in the third quarter, data showed on Monday, with power shortages crimping factory output - while in commodities, crude prices rose more than 1% to test 2018 highs.
The yuan eased slightly after the data. But taken together, China's slowdown, power crunch and worldwide signs that pressure from energy costs is hurting, seemed to turn investors broadly cautious as they brace for a bumpy period.
"For some time our central argument has rested on two factors coming together to support the dollar, namely the moderation in global growth and the Fed taking a gradual path towards eventual rate hikes," HSBC analysts said in a note.
"This occurred sooner than we expected."
The dollar last bought 114.35 yen, traded at $1.1579 against the euro and was up roughly 0.2% at $0.7402 per Australian dollar.
The dollar index rose 0.1% to 94.102, edging it back toward last week's one-year high of 94.563.
Bitcoin, vaunted as an inflation hedge and riding high on hopes for US approval of a futures-based exchange traded fund that would funnel cash into the sector, hovered just shy of its record peak of $64,895.
It last bought $62,393.
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