2024-02-27T05:07:34+00:00
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/ The dollar was trading in full swing on Tuesday, as markets look forward to a week of U.S. declines. Economic data will provide fresh clues on when the Federal Reserve might start cutting interest rates.
Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin surged to its highest level in more than two years above $57,000 after enterprise software company MicroStrategy Inc (MSTR.O) opened a new tab announcing it had bought about 3,000 additional tokens for $155 million.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against a basket of its peers including the euro and the yen, was trading flat at 103.77 in Asian time, after falling 0.17% on Monday.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s FedWatch tool showed that markets had all but ruled out a cut at the Fed’s March meeting, and had recently pushed back expectations of a cut to June from May, following strong economic growth in the United States.
Durable goods data is due later on Tuesday, while U.S. sales data for January is due later on Tuesday. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, is due on Thursday.
The dollar fell 0.13% to 150,485 yen, with the Japanese currency rising after figures showed consumer price inflation remained at the Bank of Japan’s target of 2%, instead of falling below it for the first time in nearly two years, as economists had expected.
The euro was unchanged at $1.08505, after rising 0.27% in the previous session.
Bitcoin was up 3.3% last at $56,338, after previously jumping to $57,055 for the first time since December last year.
Risk-sensitive currencies fell amid a decline in regional stocks, extending their retreat from multi-week highs.
The Australian dollar lost 0.2 percent to $0.6528 after hitting a three-week high of $0.6595 on Thursday.
The New Zealand dollar fell 0.3 percent to $0.61555, after touching its highest since Jan. 1. 15 at $0.6218 on Thursday.
Traders are bracing for what could be a key policy meeting by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) on Wednesday. Markets are expecting the RBNZ to raise the official cash rate by 5.5% to combat stubborn inflation.