The U.S. Dollar Index continued to languish near a recently struck 4-month trough as a short-lived rally in the global stock markets whetted risk appetite and sent investors in search of higher yielding currencies such as the Euro and commodity-linked currencies. The U.S. Dollar Index was trading at 80.751 .DXY, close to Thursday’s trough of 80.500 .DXY; the Index has lost nearly 3% of its value over the last fortnight, the largest decline in that particular timeframe in more than a year. The EUR/USD pair slipped from a session high of $1.3390, a 4-month peak, and as at 10:36 a.m. (JST) was trading at $1.3362. Trading at $0.9651, the AUD/USD pair surged almost 2% and moved further from Tuesday’s low of $0.8325, a level unseen in 33-months.
On Thursday, Asian equities tumbled hard with the benchmark Nikkei losing some 6.4% and the extreme volatility has shaken the Forex market, however a brief Wall Street rally resulted in the safe haven Japanese Yen coming under some pressure and moving away from the recent 2-month high against the U.S. Dollar. The USD/JPY pair traded at 95.58 Yen, a gain of 0.2% for the greenback and edging up from the weekly low of 93.75 Yen.
Wall Street Rally Fails to Lift Dollar
Barbara Zigah