On Monday, investors took into account the recent drop in yields on U.S. government bonds, which hurt the dollar. At the same time, anti-government protests in China sent the yuan to a two-week low.
Ten people died in an apartment fire in the city of Urumqi in the far west of China, which sparked protests across the country and in several cities. On Sunday night, there were a lot of fights between protesters and police in Shanghai.
China’s onshore yuan ended the domestic session around 0.5% lower at 7.199 per dollar, which is the lowest close since November 10. In Asian trade, the offshore yuan fell to a level that hadn’t been seen in more than two weeks. It was last down 0.1% at 7.201.
Related: China’s COVID protests cause stocks in Asia to fall, while India is close to reaching record highs.
“We’re really looking at how the government responds to what’s going on,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone. “The government’s response is so unpredictable, and that just means reducing risks.”
The yuan is often used as a stand-in for the Australian dollar, which fell 0.7% to $0.671.
Last time I checked, the dollar was worth 137.77 yen, which is 0.99% less than it was before. Earlier in the session, it went as low as 137.57, which was its lowest point since August 26.
Stephen Gallo, head of FX strategy for Europe at BMO Capital Markets, said that a drop in the yields on U.S. bonds was making the dollar less attractive.
“China’s COVID situation seems to be making global markets less risky, which seems to be showing up in lower long-term sovereign debt yields,” he said.
“Net-long dollar/yen remains one of the largest positions in FX leveraged funds, and these drops in appetite and longer-term yields may have scared off some investors.”
The euro went up 0.4% to $1.0445, and the pound went up 0.1% to $1.21.
China’s strict COVID rules have hurt its economy a lot, and the government has taken a number of steps to get growth going again.
Iris Pang, ING’s chief economist for Greater China, said, “Companies in China are facing weaker retail sales because of more COVID cases and falling home prices because of unfinished home projects.”
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, said on Friday that starting on December 5, it would lower the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for banks by 25 basis points (bps).
The latest news from China didn’t seem to be able to stop the fall of the U.S. dollar, which has been weakening over the past few weeks on hopes that the Federal Reserve would soon slow its rate hikes. The minutes of the Fed’s November meeting, which were released last week, backed up this view.
The U.S. dollar index opened up on Monday after ending Friday at 106.05, but it was down 0.6% at 105.65 at the end of the day.
Related: China’s COVID protests cause the stock market to fall.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is going to talk at a Brookings Institution event on Wednesday about the future of the U.S. economy and the job market. This could give us more information about the future of U.S. monetary policy.