Early trade in New York: Dollar gains as US Treasury yields climb

NEW YORK: The dollar rose on Wednesday as rising Treasury yields and upbeat economic data helped the greenback gain ground against a basket of world currencies.

Bitcoin touched a record high of $51,721, a day after the cryptocurrency crossed the $50,000 level for the first time. That brought its total market capitalization to more than $900 billion, as traders bet on its further acceptance among major companies.

“We had a rather strong retail sales data and PPI is firming up, providing another round of economic data that supports the belief that the reflation trade is not going away and that inflation is approaching us,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

The dollar index, a measure of the currency’s strength against six other major currencies, recovered from Tuesday’s three-week low of 90.117 to last stand 0.26% higher at 90.943.

The yen, which is sensitive to US yields, reacted the most with the dollar, jumping to as high as 106.21 yen in Asian trade, its highest since September, before retreating to 105.90.

The euro slipped 0.5% to $1.20.

The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.39, having reached its highest level since April 2018 on Tuesday.

The Australian dollar fell 0.19% to $0.77.