NEW YORK: The dollar weakened on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he would delay striking Iran’s energy infrastructure after productive talks between the two countries, easing near-term concerns and slightly boosting risk assets.
Trump said he had asked the Department of Defense to postpone “any and all” military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
Hemade the announcement on Truth Social just hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to destroy Iranian power plants in a further escalation in a conflict now in its fourth week.
The dollar dropped by 0.7 percent against the euro and 0.6 percent against the yen immediately after Trump’s post and was last trading down 0.53 percent against the at USD1.163.
The buck was 0.6 percent weaker at 158.27yen, retreating slightly from the key 160 yen level that puts traders on alert for potential intervention from the Bank of Japan. Meanwhile, sterling rose 0.92 percent to USD1.3464.
That left the dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of peers, down 0.6 percent at 98.94.
On Friday, the index had notched its first weekly decline since the start of the war, as the inflationary effects of surging oil prices prompted central banks to turn hawkish, supporting other currencies.
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