NEW YORK: Risk sensitive currencies including the Australian dollar slipped on Thursday and the safe-haven Japanese yen gained as concerns about rising inflation and less loose central bank policy dented risk sentiment.
"We're seeing a little bit of a risk-off today and I think that's being driven by concerns we're getting closer to that Fed tapering announcement," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst for the Americas at OANDA in New York.
"Earnings season has done nothing but support the argument that inflation is persisting," Moya said, adding that China's slowdown and the global energy crisis are also headwinds for risk appetite.
Stocks opened lower as IBM and Tesla fell after their quarterly results, with investors awaiting more reports to see the impact of supply chain disruption and labor shortages on companies.
The dollar index fell 0.03% to 93.57. It had reached a one-year high of 94.56 last week on mounting bets that the Federal Reserve will need to raise rates sooner than previously expected to quell rising price pressures.
The Australian dollar, which is a proxy for risk appetite, fell 0.33% to $0.7491 after reaching $0.7547 overnight, the highest since July 6. The New Zealand dollar, which has been boosted since the country on Monday recorded the highest inflation reading in over a decade, fell 0.41% to $0.7171, after rising to $0.7219 overnight, the highest since June 8.
The dollar dipped 0.52% against the safe-haven Japanese yen to 113.73. It had hit a four-year high of 114.67 against the Japanese currency on Wednesday. Sterling slipped 0.09% to $1.3810 while the euro was down 0.05% at $1.1644.
Bitcoin was last at $65,413, after reaching a record high of $67,017 on Wednesday. Demand for the cryptocurrency has increased after the launch of the first U.S. bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund.
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