Friday, March 29

Dollar slips with US Treasury yields but still up for week; bitcoin falls


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NEW YORK — The US dollar edged lower with US Treasury yields on Friday, with

investors looking ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve meeting for more clarity on the US outlook for rate

hikes.

Expectations that the Fed will tighten monetary policy at a faster pace than previously anticipated had

driven a rise in yields and the dollar earlier this week, and the US dollar index remained on track

for its biggest weekly percentage gain since mid-December.

US Treasury yields fell Friday as concerns about potential conflict in Ukraine dented risk appetite.

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Markets are pricing in as many as four rate hikes this year, starting from March and expect the Fed to

start trimming its $8 trillion-plus balance sheet within months. Next week’s Fed meeting could shed some

light on how fast it will tighten.

“Everything is going to be somewhat calm” until the Fed releases its statement on Wednesday after the

two-day meeting, said Bipan Rai, North American head of FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

“It makes sense the dollar is somewhat muted today given the lack of real impetus from the data front.”

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against major peers, was down 0.2% on the day at 95.555 but

up 0.4% for the week so far.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was also dragged lower, and was last down more than 4%.

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Against the yen, the dollar was last down 0.3% at 113.685, while the euro was up 0.3%

again the dollar at $1.1311.

Retail sales in Britain added recent weaker economic data. The pound was down 0.3% against the dollar at

$1.3556.

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Currency bid prices at 10:53AM (1553 GMT)

Description RIC Last US Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid

Previous Change

Session

Dollar index 95.5550 95.7650 -0.21% -0.113% +95.8400 +95.4910

Euro/Dollar $1.1348 $1.1311 +0.33% -0.18% +$1.1360 +$1.1301

Dollar/Yen 113.6850 114.0900 -0.33% -1.23% +114.1500 +113.6000

Euro/Yen 129.00 129.04 -0.03% -1.01% +129.3000 +128.5700

Dollar/Swiss 0.9113 0.9173 -0.65% -0.10% +0.9172 +0.9108

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Sterling/Dollar $1.3556 $1.3593 -0.28% +0.23% +$1.3602 +$1.3546

Dollar/Canadian 1.2526 1.2504 +0.21% -0.90% +1.2554 +1.2498

Aussie/Dollar $0.7202 $0.7227 -0.35% -0.93% +$0.7229 +$0.7183

Euro/Swiss 1.0339 1.0374 -0.34% -0.29% +1.0377 +1.0336

Euro/Sterling 0.8369 0.8315 +0.65% -0.37% +0.8376 +0.8316

NZ $0.6729 $0.6755 -0.40% -1.70% +$0.6758 +$0.6708

Dollar/Dollar

Dollar/Norway 8.8790 8.8390 +0.48% +0.81% +8.9120 +8.8105

Euro/Norway 10.0777 9.9912 +0.87% +0.65% +10.1141 +9.9814

Dollar/Sweden 9.1694 9.2234 -0.27% +1.68% +9.2434 +9.1534

Euro/Sweden 10.4065 10.4349 -0.27% +1.68% +10.4476 +10.3838

(Additional reporting by Iain Withers and Sujata Rao in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Hugh

Lawson, Susan Fenton and Richard Chang)

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