Dollar holds near 1-month high with Fed, Evergrande eyed

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. one dollar and Chinese Yuan are seen in this illustration taken May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar held around the unchanged mark near a one-month high as global markets bounced somewhat on Tuesday after a risk-off mood dominated in the prior session, while investors awaited the results of a two-day policy meeting from the Federal Reserve.

After reaching its highest level since August 23 on Monday, the dollar had been lower on the day as equities on Wall Street were poised for a solid opening, but as gains in benchmark stock indexes faded, the greenback moved slightly higher.

Investors are also looking towards the policy announcement from the Fed on Wednesday for any signs of when the central bank will begin to scale back on its massive bond buying program, in a week filled with policy statements expected from a host of central banks around the globe.

"The market was trying to get a sense of was turnaround Tuesday going to last, and if we had that continued improvement of risk appetite the dollar was going to pull back even more here," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

"But there is just a lot of wait-and-see as far as what is going to happen with the Fed, what is going to happen with Evergrande, and right now if you are trying to make a dollar bet you really just want to wait until you get a better sense of what is going to happen with Evergrande and what the Chinese government is going to do."

The dollar index rose 0.012% after reaching a high of 93.455, while the euro was down 0.01% to $1.1724.

The greenback had strengthened on Monday, along with other safe-havens such as the yen and Swiss franc, as concerns about the fallout from property developer China Evergrande's solvency issues spooked financial markets.

Those concerns overshadowed efforts by Evergrande's chairman to lift confidence in the embattled firm on Tuesday, as Beijing showed no signs it would intervene to stem any domino effects across the global economy.

The offshore Chinese yuan weakened versus the greenback to 6.4849 per dollar.

Before Evergrande's debt crisis unnerved markets, the dollar has been supported ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting this week, when economists surveyed in a Reuters poll expect policymakers to signal expectations of a tapering plan to be pushed back to November.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.14% versus the greenback to 109.21 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.3646, down 0.08% on the day.

The Canadian dollar was weaker for a fourth straight day against the greenback, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was re-elected to a third term but failed to win a majority in the parliamentary elections.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin last fell 1.53% to $42,378.52.

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Currency bid prices at 10:51AM (1451 GMT)

Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid

Previous Change

Session

Dollar index

93.2270 93.2310 +0.01% 3.607% +93.2860 +93.0480

Euro/Dollar

$1.1724 $1.1728 -0.03% -4.04% +$1.1749 +$1.1717

Dollar/Yen

109.2250 109.3850 -0.14% +5.72% +109.7050 +109.2100

Euro/Yen

128.04 128.26 -0.17% +0.88% +128.6900 +128.0400

Dollar/Swiss

0.9225 0.9278 -0.56% +4.28% +0.9283 +0.9225

Sterling/Dollar

$1.3646 $1.3657 -0.06% -0.10% +$1.3692 +$1.3646

Dollar/Canadian

1.2844 1.2820 +0.18% +0.86% +1.2847 +1.2744

Aussie/Dollar

$0.7229 $0.7253 -0.34% -6.03% +$0.7283 +$0.7228

Euro/Swiss

1.0814 1.0879 -0.60% +0.06% +1.0886 +1.0817

Euro/Sterling

0.8588 0.8581 +0.08% -3.91% +0.8592 +0.8564

NZ

Dollar/Dollar $0.6998 $0.7031 -0.47% -2.55% +$0.7056 +$0.6998

Dollar/Norway

8.6915 8.7365 -0.59% +1.14% +8.7105 +8.6560

Euro/Norway

10.1900 10.2420 -0.51% -2.65% +10.2430 +10.1590

Dollar/Sweden

8.6743 8.6775 -0.03% +5.84% +8.6808 +8.6536

Euro/Sweden

10.1700 10.1730 -0.03% +0.93% +10.1792 +10.1550