NEW YORK, July 15 — Risk sentiment revived in currency markets today as progress toward a Covid-19 vaccine helped equities rebound and commodity currencies strengthen, pushing the dollar to a one-month low.
The dollar index fell below 96 for the first time since June, dropping to a one-month low of 95.770. It was last trading down 0.20 per cent at 95.960.
The US company Moderna has produced an experimental Covid-19 vaccine that provoked immune responses in all 45 volunteers, sparking a risk-on mood.
But there was still some cause for caution, with worsening US-China tensions and fears about the economic impact of a second wave of coronavirus in the United States.
Florida, which has become an epicentre of the new outbreak, reported 133 new Covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday, and raised its death toll to more than 4,500.
Among the riskier commodity-linked currencies, the Canadian dollar was 0.62 per cent stronger; the Australian dollar was up 0.60 per cent and the New Zealand dollar was up 0.52 per cent.
“The main driver here is from the US dollar side,” said Commerzbank’s head of foreign exchange and commodity research, Ulrich Leuchtmann.
The euro extended overnight gains to a four-month high of US$1.145 versus the dollar, close to the euro-dollar’s peak of US$1.150 (RM4.90) in early March. It was last up 0.18 per cent at US$1.142.
The single currency was boosted by a combination of dollar weakness and hopes that European Union leaders will reach an agreement about a proposed coronavirus recovery fund at the EU summit on Friday and Saturday.
“The pair has been floated by a combo of broader dollar softness, which has come amid a risk-on backdrop, and by the recent broad underpinning the euro has seen amid expectations for EU leaders to green-light the proposed 750 billion euro recovery fund this week,” wrote analysts at Action Economics.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday that Germany would push for a compromise. France believes it is possible to reach agreement on the recovery plan and budget, the office of the French presidency said today. — Reuters
