The dollar moved slightly on Wednesday, giving some relief to the yen and other major currencies after a sharp rise to a seven-week high last week as investors took a breath to assess the outlook for the path of interest rates in the United States.
The US data schedule this week is relatively light, as it provides an opportunity to catch a breath after the strong jobs report on Friday, which pushed the dollar higher and changed the markets’ bets on the expected scope of the future cut in US interest rates.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of major currencies, settled at 102.490 points, a level not far from the highest level in seven weeks that it recorded on Friday at 102.69 points.
The euro also stabilized at $1.0977. The British pound reached $1.3101, a price close to its lowest level in more than three weeks at $1.30595, which was recorded on Monday.
The dollar traded against the yen in a narrow range, hovering around 148.28 yen, after reaching a seven-week high of 149.10 on Monday.
The yuan settled in external trading at 7.0695 to the dollar.
The New Zealand dollar fell to its lowest level since August 19 at $0.6096, after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut interest rates by 50 basis points.
The New Zealand dollar fell in recent trading by 0.55 percent to $0.61035.
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