Early trade in New York: Dollar lifted as Treasury yields stabilise from drop

NEW YORK: Stabilising US Treasury yields helped the dollar trade back in positive territory on Wednesday, though investors remained bearish on the currency’s near-term prospects.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell more than 6 basis points from a 10-month high hit on Tuesday, briefly snuffing out a three-day winning streak for the dollar. They last traded 2 basis points lower at 1.12%, helping the currency trade 0.1% higher against its peers.

The euro, having earlier made its sharpest daily gain against the greenback, lost ground to trade 0.3% lower on the day at $1.2168.

Sterling bucked the trend and climbed over $1.37 against the dollar, having been boosted the previous day by the Bank of England governor talking down the prospect of negative interest rates. It last traded flat as the dollar gained ground.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars fell 0.4% and 0.6% respectively, with the Aussie hitting $0.7740 and the Kiwi at $0.7186.

The pullback in yields pushed the dollar below 104 Japanese yen to trade at 103.95 yen, up 0.2%.

Investors maintained their bearish stance on the greenback.

The dollar index was 0.3% higher at 90.279 after falling 0.5% on Tuesday and is not far above last week’s close at a three-year low of 89.206.