TOKYO (JAPAN) – The dollar started the week after near two-week lows on Monday as questions clouded the minds of traders whether the recovery from the pandemic in the United States would match expectations.
Bitcoin remained volatile, coming down to as low as $45,914.75 a day after reaching a record $49,714.66. It saw a surge of 25% last week, propelled by endorsements from Tesla and BNY Mellon.
The dollar index slipped 0.1% to 90.336, close to last week’s low of 90.249 – a level not seen since January 27.
“Now the market is looking for actual evidence that the U.S. economy is outperforming,” said Shinichiro Kadota, senior currency strategist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.
“The economic data needs to improve.”
The euro edged 0.1% higher to $1.21315, extending last week’s 0.6% advance.
The dollar increased from 0.1% to 105.04 yen, recovering some of the previous week’s 0.4% loss.
While financial markets in Asia were closed on Monday for Lunar New Year, the United States also out for Presidents Day.
Riskier currencies gained against the greenback, with the Australian dollar adding 0.3% to 77.795 US cents after earlier touching a one-month high of 77.85.
The British pound appreciated 0.3% to $1.3895 after renewing an almost-three-year high at $1.3901.
The Chinese yuan reached its strongest level since June 2018 at 6.4012 per dollar in the offshore market.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin last traded 3.7% lower at $46,852.
Rival virtual coin ethereum, which often sees trades on the same level as bitcoin, slumped 4.3% to $1,725. It reached a record high of $1,874.98 on Saturday.
