Dollar Falters by Manages to Keep Gains

Photo of author

By Jacob Maslow

The dollar held onto gains, after briefly tumbling against rivals on Friday, as the greenback continued to recover from losses posted after European Central President Mario Draghi said the monetary body was done cutting interest rates for the time being.

EUR/USD edged lower, falling 0.73% to trade at 1.1096.

The euro gained after Draghi announced on Thursday that the policy making body did not anticipate any need to cut interest rates further.

Even as the single currency benefited from ECB’s decision on Thursday, the euro remained under pressure after the ECB surprised analysts and market players by cutting its benchmark interest rate to zero from 0.05%.

USD/JPY rose, adding 0.55% to trade higher at 113.82.

Against the pound, the dollar was weaker with GBP/USD going up 0.08% at 1.4293. It was, however, stronger against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF gaining 0.17% to trade at 0.9865.

Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars outperformed their American rival, with AUD/USD gaining 0.74% at 0.7509 and with NZD/USD adding 0.31% to 0.6688.

USD/CAD declined 0.63% to trade lower at 1.3262. Demand for the commodity-related currency was boosted after oil prices soared on Friday, hitting levels close to 90-day highs above $38 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar index was up 0.48% at 96.65 in Friday, off Thursday’s one-month troughs of 95.94.

Images Courtesy of DepositPhotos