2023-10-10 04:02:30
NEW YORK, October 9, 2023 (Xinhua) – The US dollar rose at the close of trading on Monday, with many investors concerned regarding the potential for escalation and prolonged conflict in one of the most politically charged regions in the world.
The desire to take risks declined with Israel’s announcement of summoning an unprecedented number of reserve soldiers (300,000 soldiers) and asking residents in parts of the Gaza Strip to leave, in a new indication that it is planning to launch a ground attack once morest Hamas.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency once morest six major currencies, rose 0.03 percent to 106.0778 in late trading.
As long as the conflict is limited to Israel and Hamas, “we can go back and focus on economic fundamentals,” said Mark Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York. “I’m still not convinced that geopolitics will drive the markets.”
European Central Bank policymaker Klaas Knott spoke earlier that the fighting between Israel and Hamas might lead to higher inflation in the euro zone if other countries in the region participate in the conflict, thus continuing the current rise in oil prices.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0566 US dollars from 1.0591 US dollars in the previous session, and the pound sterling fell to 1.2236 US dollars from 1.2244.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Philip Jefferson said trading in US Treasury bonds was closed for the Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day holidays on Monday, but the bank might “proceed with caution” in deciding whether there is any justification for any further increases in the benchmark interest rate. Pointing to the recent rise in long-term US bond yields as one of the factors that left the US central bank at a “sensitive” juncture in its management of monetary policy.
In late trading on Monday, the US dollar bought 148.4380 Japanese yen, another traditional currency considered a safe haven, which is less than 149.3570 Japanese yen in the previous session. The US dollar fell to 0.9054 Swiss francs from 0.9094, and also fell to 1.3586 Canadian dollars from 1.3655. The US dollar rose to 10.9607 Swedish krona from 10.9390./end of news/
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