Dollar Up as Fed Asset Tapering Expectations Grow

© Reuters.

By Gina Lee

AiVIF.com – The dollar was up on Tuesday morning in Asia, maintaining its resilience over growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could begin asset tapering sooner than expected.

The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched up 0.04% to 92.977 by 10:53 PM ET (2:53 AM GMT).

The USD/JPY pair inched up 0.06% to 110.34, with Japanese markets reopening after a holiday.

The AUD/USD pair inched down 0.10% to 0.7326 and the NZD/USD pair was down 0.23% to 0.6975.

The USD/CNY pair inched down 0.03% to 6.4835 and the GBP/USD pair inched down 0.05% to 1.3836.

Expectations that the Fed will begin asset tapering boosted safe-haven assets such as the Swiss franc and gold. The euro fell to $1.1732, its lowest since early April 2020.

"The market is repricing the Fed's tapering. It has only begun and I expect market adjustment to continue. The market will likely test the euro's low so far this year of $1.1704 marked on Mar. 31," Rakuten Securities senior strategist Jun Arachi told Reuters.

A stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report, released during the previous week, saw U.S. Treasury yields climb to three-week highs and a broad rally for the U.S. currency. The report said non-farm payrolls rose by 943,000 and the unemployment rate declined to 5.4% in July.

Atlanta Fed Bank President Raphael Bostic said on Monday that he expects asset tapering to begin in the fourth quarter, but that an even earlier move could be possible should the jobs market maintain its recent pace of improvement.

In Asia Pacific, expectations of an interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand when it hands down its policy decision in the following week continued to give the New Zealand a small boost.