The U.S. currency slid against all major peers on speculation the Federal Reserve will be slow to raise interest rates amid uneven global growth, buoying gold and bonds.
The Dollar Spot Index was down for a second day while a gauge of emerging-market currencies rose to its highest level since July 2015 with the yen adding 0.6 percent to 101.32 per dollar and South Korea’s won leading gains in Asia with a 1.1 percent surge. New Zealand’s dollar strengthened 0.5 percent, while Australia’s dollar and South Africa’s rand advanced 0.3 percent.
Asian stocks climbed over the last four days amid optimism central banks from London to Tokyo will continue to expand stimulus, while the same number of shares advanced as fell on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
According to Stephen Innes, a senior trader at Oanda Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. in Singapore, “The overriding issue in the Asia basket is the Goldilocks principle that the U.S. economy is healthy but not so buoyant enough to elicit any sort of Fed response. There’s a perception that central banks are going to remain accommodative for the foreseeable future.”
Gold Rises, Crude Falls
Gold rose 0.6 percent to about $1,349 an ounce, after rallying 0.4 percent on Tuesday, while silver and platinum climbed more than 1 percent.
Crude oil fell 0.1 percent to $42.71 a barrel in New York. It slid 0.6 percent on Tuesday as American Petroleum Institute data indicated U.S. stockpiles rose by 2.09 million barrels last week.
Economists are predicting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will cut interest rates to a fresh record on Thursday.