The U.S. dollar index was last hovering near Friday’s close at 103.28
The dollar started the week on a shaky footing on Monday as markets took stock of cautious remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell as they waited on a key employment report that could influence the outlook for U.S. interest rates.
Bitcoin grabbed the spotlight in the Asian morning, hitting the $40,000 level for the first time in more than a year.
Powell said on Friday it was clear that U.S. monetary policy was slowing the economy as expected, with the benchmark overnight interest rate “well into restrictive territory.”
While Powell reiterated that the Fed is prepared to tighten policy further if needed, traders were convinced the rate-hike cycle was over.
Markets were pricing in a 60 per cent possibility of a rate cut by the March meeting compared with 21 per cent just more than a week ago, shows CME’s FedWatch tool.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major rivals, was last hovering near Friday’s close at 103.28.
U.S. data remains the “primary driver” of the G10 currencies, making non-farm payrolls the “most important risk event” this week, said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com. The November jobs report will be released on Friday.
Against the yen, the dollar was fetching $146.58 yen , after dropping to 146.24 earlier in the session, its lowest since September 11. The yen has recently pulled away from the near 33-year low of 151.92 per dollar hit in the middle of November.
The Australian dollar hit a new four-month high against the greenback of $0.669, while the kiwi reached $0.6222, its strongest level since late July.
Sterling was last trading near $1.2682, easing off a three-month high against the greenback of $1.2733 hit last week.
The euro was mostly flat on Monday at $1.0874 after dropping to $1.0829 in the wake of last week’s inflation data.
