SG/Tokyo/HK (AFP) Weak economic data from around the world brought back fears of a recession, which helped the U.S. dollar and hurt the Aussie, euro, and yuan.
The dollar index was maintained steady at 106.51, barely below the previous session’s top of 106.55, the highest since last Monday.
Read More: Nio’s first overseas plant will create power products for Europe.
The euro was little changed at $1.0158 after hitting its worst level since Aug. 5 at 1.0154.
At $1.2040, sterling was 0.1% lower than on August 5.
The dollar dropped 0.9% to 133.19 yen, a safe-haven currency.
Read More: European stocks go up a little bit, and HSBC’s earnings help the mood.
Weak economic indicators drove the worldwide safety bid. The report released on Monday showed that the confidence of single-family homebuilders and manufacturing activity in New York fell to their lowest levels since the COVID-19 epidemic.
This happened after Chinese industrial output, retail sales, and investments in fixed assets were slow after the COVID-19 lockdown.
The dollar went up against the offshore yuan by 0.07%, reaching 6.8174. This is close to Monday’s high of 6.8200.
The Australian dollar fell to $0.70005, threatening to sink below 70 cents for the first time since Wednesday.
The kiwi hit $0.6349, the lowest since Wednesday.
Read More: Futures on European equities edge higher; U.S. inflation data is crucial this week.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is likely to hike rates by a half point on Wednesday. The focus will be on whether policymakers follow the Federal Reserve and Reserve Bank of Australia in changing to a data-driven strategy.
A Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist stated that “weakness in the U.S. and Chinese economies is unfavourable for commodity currencies.”
“NZD is likely to fall till tomorrow’s RBNZ meeting.”
