© Archyde.com. Euro and US dollar banknotes in an illustrative photo taken on July 17, 2022. Photo: Dado Ruvic/Archyde.com.
NEW YORK (Archyde.com) – The euro briefly hit a seven-month high on Wednesday but remained locked in a tight range as traders held back from major moves ahead of Thursday’s US inflation data that might provide a clearer picture of the direction of interest rates.
The euro touched $1.07765, its highest level since May 31, with the dollar falling recently as traders bet the Federal Reserve would not have to raise interest rates as much and as quickly as previously expected to tame stubbornly high inflation.
The euro rose 0.15 percent to $1.07515 at 1930 GMT.
The dollar has lost regarding 12 percent once morest the single since it hit a 20-year high in September, while data continues to show that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike is achieving its desired effect in calming the economy and curbing inflation.
Investors are focusing on US consumer price data due on Thursday. Federal Reserve spokespeople said their next steps would depend on the data.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency once morest a basket of currencies including the euro, was little changed, rising 0.01 percent to 103.26.
It approached a five-month high of $6.7763.
The Australian dollar rose 0.17% to $0.6905 following data showed annual inflation rose to 7.3% in November, leaving room for further rate hikes.
(Prepared by Muhammad Harfoush for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Mahmoud Abdel-Gawad)