Dollar falls for fifth day in longest losing streak since April

NEW YORK, Dec 25 — The dollar weakened as oil extended its biggest weekly advance in four months, bolstering the outlook for global inflation.

A gauge of the US currency versus 10 major peers dropped for a fifth day, its longest losing streak since April, as crude futures surged 9.7 per cent this week in New York.

Recovering oil prices help alleviate concern that a lack of global demand will weaken the economies of resource-reliant nations, such as Canada, South Africa and Brazil.

“The currency market is still dominated by the commodities market, and it’s dominated more by the oil market,” said Kit Juckes, a London-based global strategist at Societe Generale SA.

“Oil is up and, bingo, the dollar is down and every other currency falls into place.”

The dollar weakened 0.5 per cent to US$1.0964 (RM4.707) per euro at 5pm in New York.

It fell 0.4 per cent to 120.43 yen.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.3 per cent, paring its gain this year to 8.5 per cent.

While the dollar has climbed about 10 per cent versus the euro this year, the Bloomberg Commodity Index is headed for its biggest annual slide since 2008. — Bloomberg