Dollar Down Before Weekend on Riskier Bets

Currencies tied to growth outperformed the U.S. dollar as risk appetite was predominant before foreign-exchange markets closed this Friday, considering that retail sales in North America expanded in the monthly comparison, raising optimism to higher levels among investors.

Oddly enough, like during the worst moments of the global slump last year, a positive U.S. report affected the appeal towards the greenback after retail sales rose in February, according to a report released today, increasing bets that the global economic recovery is gaining momentum, which allowed currencies tied to growth, as the loonie and the Aussie dollar to have the sharpest advances versus its U.S. counterpart. The yen was one of the few currencies which didn’t benefit from this scenario, as its safety profile combined with strong risk appetite, declined attractiveness for investors which opted for higher stakes in emerging markets and commodity producer countries.

The dollar had been very strong during the past few weeks, specially versus the euro and the pound, and traders abandoned long some positions, as the dollar’s rally faded. It was the first weekly decline for the greenback versus the euro in more than 5 weeks.

EUR/USD closed at 1.3766 this Friday from 1.3675 on Thursday.

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