U.S. Dollar Index Slips to Lowest Price This Year

With the global markets awaiting a surfeit of economic data out of the United States, the U.S. Dollar Index closed in on the lowest point of the year versus a basket of six major currencies in Asian trading today.

As reported at 7:49 a.m. in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar slipped to 78.111 .DXY, and then recovered slightly to 78.352 .DXY, nearly flat from Friday’s late trading in New York. According to analysts, the U.S. Dollar's decline can be attributed to technical factors, especially the stop-loss buying of the Pound Sterling.

Thereafter, the plan was for cautious waiting by investors who prefer to sit on the sidelines in advance of the release of U.S. economic reports, the first of which is the U.S. manufacturing index data to be released later today.

Commodity-linked currencies are benefiting from the U.S. Dollar’s slide, including the Australian Dollar which climbed to its highest price in 10-months against the U.S. Dollar, trading at $0.8394. Some traders purport that the Aussie is being helped by the expectation that Australia’s Reserve Bank may address the issue of monetary easing tomorrow, when it holds a policy meeting; analysts expect that it will hold the cash rate at 3%, though.

Disclosure: No positions