The U.S. dollar was encamped near 14-year peaks on Wednesday as global yield spreads moved inexorably in its favor, while a falling yen lifted Japanese shares to a one-year top.
The dollar reveled in its rapidly widening yield premium, with the Federal Reserve set on a tightening course even as its peers in Europe and Japan act to keep their short-term rates deep in negative territory.
The dollar index, which measures it against a basket of currencies, stood at 103.260 having touched 103.65 .DXY, its highest since December 2002. [FRX/]
The dollar had also edged back up to 117.80 yen JPY=, within sight of its recent peak at 118.66, while the euro stayed pinned at $1.0394 EUR=.
The Singapore dollar tumbled to its weakest since 2009, during the global financial crisis, and it may have further to go.
The U.S. dollar was fetching as much as 1.4506 Singapore dollars on Tuesday afternoon local time, according to Reuters data, climbing from as low as S$1.4428 earlier in the session. That's the weakest for the city-state's currency, also known as the Sing, since August of 2009.
Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday on forecasts of a steep draw in U.S. crude oil stocks that could indicate a global oversupply is starting to shrink.
International Brent crude oil futures rose 64 cents to $55.56 per barrel at 4:56 p.m. ET (2156 GMT).
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures settled Tuesday's trade up 11 cents at $52.23 per barrel.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected weekly U.S. crude oil inventories to show a draw of 2.4 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 16.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 4.1 million barrels in the previous week.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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