• The dollar edged away from last week’s three-month highs on Monday, while the euro nursed losses after the European Central Bank and unrest in Spain’s Catalonia led it to post its worst week this year.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, dipped 0.2 percent to 94.775 but remained not far from Friday’s three-month high of95.150.
The euro inched 0.1 percent higher to $1.1614, after plumbing a three-month low of $1.1574 on Friday, and losing 1.6 percent for the week, its worst performance in11 months.
In contrast with the ECB, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to resume raising interest rates, perhaps as early as December.
“The market has already pretty much priced in a December move, so the real key question is how much the markets price in for next year, and that could drive the dollar even higher in the short term if we see more being priced in,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of Asia macro strategy for Barclays in Singapore.
The Fed will hold a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday at which it is expected to leave rates unchanged.
The dollar edged down 0.1 percent against the yen to 113.58, after notching a three-month high of 114.45 yen on Friday.
At its own two-day meeting ending on Tuesday, the Bank of Japan is set to keep intact a pledge to guide short-term interest rates at minus 0.1 percent and the 10-year Japanese government bond yield around zero percent.
• BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is the leading candidate for a second five-year term when his current one ends in April, the Nikkei business paper reported on Saturday, which would likely mean continuation of the bank’s ultra-easy monetary policy.
• Oil markets were firm on Monday, with Brent remaining above $60 per barrel on expectations that an OPEC-led production cut due to expire next March would be extended, although rising exports from Iraq kept a lid on prices.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $60.55 per barrel at 0655 GMT, 10 cents or 0.15 percent above their last settlement and near their highest level since July 2015. They have risen more than 36 percent since from 2017-lows marked in June.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $54.01 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng