The dollar's losses deepened on Thursday as positioning for next week's US presidential election overshadowed the Federal Reserve's latest review, where policymakers signalled they were on track to hike rates next month. The dollar shed its early modest gains and skidded against the yen with markets in Japan closed for a public holiday.
It was last down 0.7 percent at 102.57 yen, wallowing at its lowest levels since October 4 and well off its October 28 high of 105.53.
"The Fed didn't really tell us too much that we didn't already know. The focus in FX is still on the narrowing lead that Clinton has over Trump," said Sue Trinh, head of Asia FX strategy at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong.
While Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, seen as the status quo candidate for markets, remained ahead in many polls before Tuesday's vote, some investors have begun pricing in the possibility of victory for her Republican rival Donald Trump.
An average of polls compiled by the RealClearPolitics website showed Clinton just 1.7 percent ahead of Trump nationally on Wednesday, with 47 percent support to his 45.3 percent. But a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released on the same day showed Clinton ahead by 6 percentage points among likely voters.
The euro was up 0.2 percent $1.1116 after rising 0.6 as high as $1.1125, its loftiest peak since October 11.
The dollar slipped 0.3 percent against the Swiss franc to 0.9696 franc, gearing up to test its overnight low of 0.9691 which was its lowest level since October 3.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, dipped 0.3 percent to 97.089 after dropping as low as 97.079, its lowest since October 11.
The Australian dollar was nearly flat against its US counterpart at $0.7656, but skidded 0.7 percent against the resurgent Japanese currency to 78.57 yen, its lowest since October 14.
The Mexican currency retreated to as low as 19.5172 pesos per dollar, its weakest since Sep. 30.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.