NEW YORK: The dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday, in the wake of China’s decision to lift its official yuan exchange rate by its highest margin since it abandoned a dollar peg in 2005, while US Senate runoff elections in Georgia were also eyed.
China’s central bank set the official yuan midpoint at 6.4760 per dollar before the market opened, up 1% from the previous fix, the biggest change higher since 2005.
In the offshore market, the yuan strengthened as far as 6.4119 for the first time since mid-June 2018. It started the week at 6.494.
The dollar briefly strengthened in a risk-off move on Monday as US stocks dropped, but resumed their downward trajectory in the wake of China’s announcement, which also helped lift risk currencies.
The Aussie dollar, a barometer of risk appetite that also tends to follow the yuan, was up 0.74% at 0.7722, approaching the 2-1/2-year high of .7743 touched on the final day of 2020.
The euro was up 0.19% at $1.2271 while the Japanese yen strengthened 0.32% versus the greenback at 102.80 per dollar.
Sterling was last trading at $1.3592, up 0.17%, having been buffeted by a surge in infections of a fast-spreading new coronavirus variant in the UK, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordering another nationwide lockdown.
It slid 0.73% on Monday, the most since Dec. 10, after earlier rising to $1.3703, a level not seen since May 2018.
Bitcoin traded at $32,045.29 following a roller-coaster ride that took it to a record high of $34,800 on Sunday, followed by a tumble to as low as $27,734 the following session.
Comments
Comments are closed.