AIRLINK 62.48 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (3.39%)
BOP 5.36 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.19%)
CNERGY 4.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.43%)
DFML 15.50 Increased By ▲ 0.66 (4.45%)
DGKC 66.40 Increased By ▲ 1.60 (2.47%)
FCCL 17.59 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (4.33%)
FFBL 27.70 Increased By ▲ 2.95 (11.92%)
FFL 9.27 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.32%)
GGL 10.06 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1%)
HBL 105.70 Increased By ▲ 1.49 (1.43%)
HUBC 122.30 Increased By ▲ 4.78 (4.07%)
HUMNL 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.92%)
KEL 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.1%)
KOSM 4.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.97%)
MLCF 36.20 Increased By ▲ 0.79 (2.23%)
OGDC 122.92 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (0.43%)
PAEL 23.00 Increased By ▲ 1.09 (4.97%)
PIAA 29.34 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (7.51%)
PIBTL 5.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-2.36%)
PPL 107.50 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.12%)
PRL 27.25 Increased By ▲ 0.74 (2.79%)
PTC 18.07 Increased By ▲ 1.97 (12.24%)
SEARL 53.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-1.17%)
SNGP 63.21 Increased By ▲ 2.01 (3.28%)
SSGC 10.80 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.47%)
TELE 9.20 Increased By ▲ 0.71 (8.36%)
TPLP 11.44 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (8.13%)
TRG 70.86 Increased By ▲ 0.95 (1.36%)
UNITY 23.62 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.47%)
WTL 1.28 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 6,941 Increased By 63.6 (0.92%)
BR30 22,802 Increased By 233 (1.03%)
KSE100 67,142 Increased By 594.3 (0.89%)
KSE30 22,090 Increased By 175.1 (0.8%)
Markets

Dollar falls for 5th day as vaccine hopes outweigh spike in COVID cases

  • Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial shows 95% effective.
  • Dollar index edges down to more than one-week low.
  • Bitcoin surges above $18,000, but last down on the day.
  • Euro ticks up, investor ignore EU recovery fund hurdles.
  • Sterling gains on Brexit developments.
Published November 18, 2020

NEW YORK: The dollar slipped for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, sliding to a more than one-week low, as positive vaccine news offset the surge in coronavirus cases and tighter economic restrictions across the United States and Europe.

The market showed a little more appetite for risk-taking, with gains in currencies that rise in times of improving sentiment such as sterling, the New Zealand dollar, and Norwegian crown.

Pfizer announced that the final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective, giving relief to a pandemic-weary market . That followed news that Moderna Inc released preliminary data for its vaccine, showing 94.5% effectiveness.

That said, the number of reported global daily deaths from the coronavirus stood at 10,816 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest single-day death count. The United States, the worst-affected country worldwide, has reported about 11.38 million infections and 248,574 deaths since the pandemic started.

"A spike in COVID cases is generally good for the dollar and other safe-haven currencies like the yen and Swiss franc, but the positive vaccine news roughly counters that," said Greg Anderson, global head of foreign exchange strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York.

The dollar overall is expected to weaken as global economies improve once the vaccine gets widely distributed and as the Federal Reserve stands ready to provide more easing that should further erode the value of the greenback.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday there was "a long way to go" to economic recovery and a retail sales report released by the US Commerce Department showed spending decelerating.

In mid-morning trading, the dollar index slipped 0.1% to 92.298, after dropping as low as 92.207, its lowest level since Nov. 9.

Bitcoin, sometimes regarded as a safe haven, or at least a hedge against inflation, rose to more than $18,000 for the first time in nearly three years. It last stood around $17,594, down 0.4%.

The euro was slightly up on the day at $1.1869 rising, despite Poland and Hungary blocking the European Union's 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.14 trillion) financial package to revive an economy depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sterling, meanwhile, rose 0.3% versus the dollar to $1.3297 in the wake of a report from the Sun newspaper that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was told by British negotiators to expect a Brussels trade deal early next week, with "a possible landing zone" as soon as next Tuesday.

The dollar though fell 0.3% against the yen to 103.865 , with the Japanese currency recouping much of the losses it suffered last week after Pfizer announced it had developed a working COVID-19 vaccine.

China's offshore yuan surged to its highest in more than two years against the dollar on Wednesday. The greenback though recovered to trade 0.2% higher at 6.5619 amid dollar-buying by major state-owned banks in what some traders suspected was an effort to slow the Chinese currency's advance towards 6.5-per dollar.

Comments

Comments are closed.