Early trade in New York: dollar on the ropes as Fed deals blow to outlook

17 Mar, 2017

The dollar dropped to a five-week low against a basket of currencies on Thursday, still reeling from the previous session, when a statement from the US Federal Reserve statement failed to signal a much faster pace of monetary policy tightening.
The US currency also slid to a two-week-low against the yen, and a five-week trough versus the euro.
The Fed on Wednesday lifted the target overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75 percent to 1.00 percent, but stuck to its original forecast of three rate increases this year. Investors were expecting four rate hikes in 2017.
Chicago-based Ron Waliczek, managing director of over-the-counter FX and interest rates at INTL FC Stone, said going into Wednesday's Fed decision, the dollar had been overdone and had been so since 2014.
In late morning trading, the dollar index fell 0.3 percent to 100.40. It slid to as low as 100.39, its weakest level since February 9. Against the yen, the dollar was down 0.1 percent at 113.29, after earlier falling to a two-week trough.
The euro rose to a five-week high against the greenback, and was last at $1.0737, up 0.1 percent.
Sterling, meanwhile, rose on some surprise hints about the chances of a rise in UK interest rates. The pound hit a two-week high of $1.2373, after the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold but gave a handful of hints in voting results and its minutes that it might raise them soon. The pound was last up 0.6 percent at $1.2360.

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