The dollar rose near a five-week high against other major currencies on Monday, as investors increased their bets that the US Federal Reserve will continue to tighten monetary policy for a longer period while they await the US consumer price report due on Tuesday.
The yen fell amid expectations that the Japanese government will appoint an official who supports current monetary policy as a new central bank governor tomorrow.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars fell as Asian stocks fell on fears that higher US interest rates would slow growth. So did the pound sterling.
“The dollar is receiving support since the release of stronger-than-expected US jobs data earlier this month,” said Shinichiro Kadota, senior currency strategist at Barclays in Tokyo. “Fed officials’ statements tend to tighten policy, but the focus is of course on CPI data tomorrow”.
The dollar index – which measures the performance of the US currency against a range of major currencies including the yen, the euro and the pound – rose 0.068 percent to 103.65, remaining close to last Tuesday’s high of 103.96, its highest level since January 6.
The US currency rose 0.6 percent to 132.20 yen.
The euro lost 0.09 percent, recording $1.06685, after earlier touching the 1.0656 level for the first time since January 9th. The pound was last traded at $1.20475, down 0.1 percent on the day.
The Australian dollar fell 0.09% to $0.6912, and the New Zealand dollar fell 0.11% to $0.6304.