The US dollar was on track to take back a chunk of the past couple weeks’ losses against the European currencies on Friday as turmoil abroad bucked up the world’s still-leading reserve currency.
The 16-nation euro slid to US$1.3304 in late New York trading from US$1.3511 on Thursday, while the pound dropped to US$1.4302 from US$1.4440.
The dollar fell against the yen, however, to ¥98.04 from ¥98.50 late on Thursday.
“The euro zone’s internal wobbles once again returned to the fray,” wrote UBS AG analyst Geoffrey Yu, driving the buck higher as US consumer spending rose for the second month in a row.
Two weeks ago — before the US government announced it would swamp markets with money — the euro traded at US$1.2898, the pound was worth US$1.3970 and the dollar bought ¥98.04.
Asian currencies rose for a fourth week, the longest winning streak in almost a year, as a global stock rally revived investor appetite for emerging-market assets.
South Korea’s won touched a two-month high against the dollar after a central bank report showed the economy shrank less than initially estimated in the fourth quarter. Indonesia’s rupiah strengthened for a third week as overseas investors bought US$120 million more of the country’s equities than they sold this month. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares jumped 7.5 percent, the biggest weekly gain since August 2007.
“Asian currencies followed sentiment in the global stock market quite closely,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd in Hong Kong. “That’s why we had a solid performance this week.”
The won was at 1,349.00 per dollar, 4.7 percent stronger than last week, Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd said.
Malaysia’s ringgit gained 0.8 percent this week to 3.6155 and the New Taiwan dollar appreciated 0.1 percent to NT$33.779. The rupiah rose 2.3 percent to 11,500.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies excluding the yen, had a fourth weekly gain, the longest run since last April. It rose 0.8 percent this week to 104.88.
Eight of the 10 most-active currencies in Asia outside Japan climbed against the greenback.
South Korea’s GDP shrank a revised 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the central bank reported yesterday. That was less than the previously reported 5.6 percent decline and follows a 0.2 percent expansion in the three months to September.
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