By: DailyForex
Global currencies struggled on Monday morning due to various political concerns and unknowns in Europe, Asia and the United States. The Turkish lira was the hardest hit, falling approximately 3.2 percent against the dollar, after a diplomatic row with Washington resulting from the detaining of a U.S. mission employee in Turkey last week. The U.S. mission in Turkey and the Turkish mission in the U.S. both reduced services in response to the incident, prompting the Turkish currency to plummet, putting it on track for the worst daily performance since July 2016. Despite the drop, the lira was still trading above its year-to-date low of 3.7325.
Traders were also wary of the euro on Monday morning as they await an address from Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday, where he could potentially declare independence from Spain. The euro was down 0.05 percent as of 2:15 p.m. HK/SIN, to $1.1727.
The dollar retreated from 12-week highs hit against the yen last week on renewed fears related to political tensions with North Korea and the concern that North Korea is preparing for a long-range missile test which is rumored to be able to reach the west coast of the United States. The dollar’s retreat had begun on Friday as traders began to take profit from the recent uptick. The dollar was trading at 112.61 in the early afternoon on Monday.
The New Zealand dollar was also broadly lower on Monday, hitting a four-month low after data revealed from the country’s recent election failed to confirm a clear winner. The New Zealand dollar was down 0.3 percent against the greenback, trading at $0.707.