Dollar slips vs yen but stands tall against commodity currencies

The dollar nursed losses against the yen and euro on Tuesday, but was firmer versus the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand currencies, which all succumbed to weakness in commodity prices.

The greenback has been on the defensive as views that the US central bank is in no hurry to tighten monetary policy have held sway ever since Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen had last week expressed caution towards hiking interest rates.

The dollar came under further pressure against the safe-haven yen as equities and crude oil prices fell.

BoJ monetary policy

Perceptions that the Bank of Japan would not immediately ease monetary policy, which in theory would curb yen strength, further favoured the Japanese currency.

The dollar was down 0.5 per cent at 110.815 yen. A slide below 110.67 yen would take the currency to its lowest since October 2014.

“Dollar/yen has been weakening despite a firm US economy and a weak Japanese economy. For the dollar to rebound, the decline in crude oil and US debt yields have to halt and Japanese authorities would need to clarify their stance on further monetary easing,” said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief FX strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

The euro was up 0.1 per cent at $1.1400, hovering within distance of a 5-1/2-month peak of $1.1438 scaled last week.

RBA policy meet

The dollar, on the other hand, performed well against the Aussie, which was hit as investors turned defensive ahead of a policy review later in the day by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which is under growing pressure to temper the currency's strength.

“Interest will be on the RBA’s comments regarding the latest Australian dollar appreciation,” said Joseph Capurso, senior currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank.

The Aussie surged more than 7 per cent last month — its biggest monthly gain in over four years — to a high not seen since mid-2015. It has since retreated below $0.7600, from the high of $0.7723.

Yellen’s statement

The Aussie’s rally in part reflected a broadly declining greenback after Fed Chair Yellen’s cautious statements last week.

Fed funds futures now have barely one rate hike priced in for this year. Unsurprisingly, the dollar has struggled against that backdrop.

Yet Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren had on Monday warned that the interest rate futures market could be “too pessimistic’’, noting external risks to the US economy seemed to be abating.

In addition to the Aussie, other commodity-linked dollars were also on the defensive with crude oil prices touching one-month lows as investors doubted that producing countries will freeze output to rein in a worldwide glut.

The Canadian dollar was steady at C$1.3100 per dollar after losing about 0.6 per cent overnight. The New Zealand dollar was down 0.3 per cent at $0.6814, extending an overnight fall of 1 per cent.

The dollar index was last at 94.502, back near a 5-1/2 month trough of 94.319 set on Thursday.

COMMENT NOW