The dollar hit a four-month high against a basket of currencies and rose against the yen on Wednesday, bolstered by strong U.S. data and growing expectations that the Federal Reserve may raise rates before the end of the year.
Fed funds futures rates show investors see around a 40 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by its December meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, compared with less than 20 percent a few weeks ago.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, hit a high of 97.271 .DXY, its highest level since March 10.
"The dollar is now being supported by rising U.S. rate expectations. The likelihood of a Fed rate hike before the end of the year that is being priced in by the markets has almost returned to the levels seen before the EU referendum," said Thu Lan Nguyen, currency strategist at Commerzbank.
"Most recently the rising rate hike expectations are mainly due to better economic and inflation developments in the US."
Turkey Put on Review for Downgrade by Moody’s After Coup Attempt
Turkey had its debt put on review for a downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thwarted a coup attempt that erupted over the weekend.
Moody’s will look at Turkey’s Baa3 credit rating, the lowest level of investment grade, to “assess the medium-term impact” of the failed coup on the country’s growth and policy-making institutions, according to a statement.
China's ODI, service trade jump in H1
Chinese companies continued to boost their overseas investment in the first half (H1) of the year, official data showed on Tuesday.
China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) rose 58.7 percent from a year earlier to 580.28 billion yuan (86.61 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-June period, Shen Danyang, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said during a press conference.
In June alone, ODI expanded 44.9 percent year-on-year to 100.17 billion yuan, data showed.
Crude oil futures mixed before U.S. inventory report
Oil futures rose in Asian trading on Wednesday but gains were limited and U.S. crude traded sideways in advance of the release of official weekly inventory figures later in the day.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 18 cents at $46.84 a barrel at 0349 GMT. On Tuesday, the contract settled down30 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $46.66 barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 4 cents at $44.69 a barrel, after initially trading higher then falling. It fell 59 cents, or 1.3 percent, to settle at $44.65 in the previous session. The front-month August contract will expire at the end of Wednesday's session.
Reference: China.org.cn,Bloomberg,Reuters
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