© Archyde.com. An employee counts $100 bills in Seoul. Photo from Archyde.com archive.
TOKYO/LONDON (Archyde.com) – It held near a two-decade high against major currencies on Tuesday, as investors maintained expectations that the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates again to curb inflation.
The Riksbank started a week full of central bank meetings by raising rates by a full percentage point, a larger increase than analysts had expected, causing the Swedish krona to rise against the dollar.
The krone recorded little change against the two currencies, to 10.764 per dollar and 10.8 per euro, after settling for a brief period at 10.7025 per euro.
The most prominent meeting for this week remains the Federal Reserve meeting, which begins later on Tuesday and continues for two days to determine the interest rate.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six other currencies, is currently stable at 109.69, after retreating from its highest level recorded this month at 110.79, a level not recorded since June 2002.
The euro was able to rise again above the level of parity with the US currency, to 1.0016 dollars. It had previously fallen to $0.9864 on the sixth of September for the first time in two decades.
The pound rose to $1.1458, but it is still close to its 37-year low of $1.13510, which it recorded at the end of last week.
The Bank of England will decide its policy on Thursday. Investors are divided on whether to raise rates by 50 or 75 basis points.
The Bank of Japan also holds a meeting this week, but it is widely expected to keep the ultra-accommodative stimulus measures unchanged – including holding the 10-year yield near zero – to support the fragile economic recovery.
The yen is receiving support from this policy, and the dollar rose 0.2 percent against the Japanese currency at 143.49, to continue its continuous resilience for a week after it jumped to 144.99 on the seventh of September for the first time in 24 years.
The Australian dollar fell 0.37 percent to $0.6702.
(Prepared by Marwa Gharib for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Ali Khafaji)