Dollar set for second weekly gain on Fed view
The U.S. dollar edged higher on Friday, on track for a second consecutive weekly gain versus its major rivals, as investors weighed the possibility of the Federal Reserve announcing its plans to reduce its stimulus in the coming weeks.
Data on Thursday showed U.S. producer prices posted their largest annual increase in more than a decade in the 12 months through July.
While the data comes a day after consumer price data that indicated inflation may be peaking, analysts said producer price data helps the case for removing some of the Fed’s stimulus.
Against a basket of its rivals, the greenback held firm around the 93 level, near an April high of 93.195 hit last week. It is up 0.2% this week after a 0.8% rise last week.
The Fed will announce a plan to taper its asset purchases in September, according to a solid majority of economists polled by Reuters.
Several Fed officials this week came out in support of tapering bond buying in coming months, setting themselves apart from other, more dovish major central banks such as the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.
The euro steadied at $1.1734, on course for a second straight week of losses and within striking distance of a four-month low of $1.1706 hit on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, bitcoin climbed 4% to $46,194, nearing Wednesday’s three-month peak of $46,787 while Ethereum rose 6% higher to $3,225.
Thai baht gains among muted Asian currencies; S.Korea's won slips
Thailand's baht edged up among mostly muted Asian currencies on Friday, after a short-lived retreat in the dollar this week even as COVID-19 worries capped gains, while South Korea's won fell for a fifth straight session to hit
a 10-month low.
Most Asian currencies were set to end the week lower, with
South Korea's won the top loser and on track to post its worst weekly performance since March last year, while Thai
baht was an outlier, gaining more than half a percent.
Reference: Reuters
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