Greenback hits five-year excessive vs yen, euro sags amid Ukraine uncertainty By Reuters

By John McCrank and Joice Alves

New York (Reuters) -The greenback rose on Friday, notching a five-year excessive towards the safe-haven yen, whereas commodity-linked currencies slumped after Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned there had been some progress in talks between Moscow and Ukraine.

Putin mentioned in a gathering together with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko that there had been “sure optimistic shifts” in negotiations with Ukraine and that talks continued virtually every day.

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “particular operation,” has roiled markets, inflicting volatility in commodity costs and threatening international financial progress prospects.

The greenback initially declined on the information, however then progressively firmed and was final up 0.76% towards a basket of six international friends at 99.11. The index was on observe for a 0.56% improve for the week, following final week’s 2% rise, which was its largest weekly proportion acquire since April 2020.

The dollar hit a five-year excessive towards the Japanese yen, which was down 1.03% at 117.32 yen.

“When individuals are having a look at which economies are poised to deal with the widespread inflationary pressures, the U.S. financial system is trying like it should be the outperformer and that is why you are seeing the greenback do nicely towards the yen in these risk-averse occasions,” mentioned Ed Moya, senior analyst at Oanda.

The greenback has additionally been supported by expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin elevating rates of interest on the finish of its March 15-16 coverage assembly, with inflation working sizzling.

Whereas the U.S. central financial institution is all however sure to hike charges from the COVID-19 pandemic low, the Financial institution of Japan, which additionally holds a coverage assembly subsequent week, is about to stay an outlier.

The euro slid 0.69% towards the greenback to $1.0912, erasing positive factors from the in a single day session and placing it on observe to finish the week barely decrease for what can be its sixth-straight weekly loss. The one forex has fallen greater than 2.5% towards the U.S. greenback in March.

After hitting an almost two-year low on Monday amid rising stagflation worries arising from the Ukraine struggle, the euro acquired some help from the European Central Financial institution’s announcement that it’s going to part out its stimulus, opening the door to an rate of interest hike earlier than the tip of 2022.

Commodity-linked currencies, together with the Australian greenback and the New Zealand greenback, have been decrease versus the dollar, with the and the each down 0.8%.

“Currencies that had been gainers due to the commodity chaos … are beginning to come down slightly bit based mostly on this concept that if maybe there’s optimism and positivity in the direction of talks and there’s any likelihood that there’s a cease-fire or peace, that after all would get international progress momentum going once more,” mentioned Juan Perez, head of buying and selling at Tempus Inc.

slid 1.64% to $38,798. It had surged this week after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an government order on Wednesday requiring the federal government to evaluate the dangers and advantages of making a central financial institution digital greenback.