IV:Dollar higher vs. yen, pound, euro up as Italian vote eyed
Investing.com - The dollar rose to multi-month highs against the yen and the pound on Monday, while the euro was higher against the dollar as investors eyed the outcome of a Italian general elections.
During European late morning trade, the dollar was hovering close to 33-month highs against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.43% to 93.76.
The yen weakened broadly on Monday following reports that Japan’s prime minister is planning to nominate a strongly pro-easing candidate for the post of Bank of Japan governor.
Japanese government officials said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to nominate Asian Development Bank head Haruhiko Kuroda, as the next governor of the BoJ.
The greenback was trading close to 31-month highs against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.20% to 1.5143 after ratings agency Moody’s cut the U.K.’s triple-A sovereign rating late Friday.
Moody’s cut the U.K.’s sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 with a stable outlook, citing a weak outlook for growth and a rising debt burden.
The dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.63% to 1.3271.
Investors were awaiting the results of general elections in Italy, amid concerns that a hung parliament could hamper efforts to implement further economic reforms and lead to instability in the bloc’s third largest economy.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.47% to 0.9254.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD up 0.21% to 1.0223, AUD/USD dipping 0.02% to trade at 1.0317 and NZD/USD rising 0.35% to 0.8406.
The Australian dollar hit session lows earlier after data showed that China’s HSBC flash manufacturing index dropped to a four month low of 50.4 from 52.3 in January, fuelling concerns over the recovery in the world’s second largest economy.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.30% to 80.31.