By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was down on Friday morning in Asia, with investors retreating from the safe-haven asset as hopes of a COVID-19 recovery grow and causing markets to be heavily short dollars.The pound was up despite doubts on both sides about a resolution to the Brexit trade talks between the U.K. and the European Union (EU).
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies edged down 0.18% to 90.653 by 12:02 AM ET (4:02 AM GMT). The dollar was pinned near a two-and-a-half year low, barely a third of one percent above the previous week’s 31-month trough.
The USD/JPY pair edged down 0.14% to 104.06.
Although moves in Friday’s Asian session were modest, the riskier AUD and the NZD saw new multi-year highs.
The AUD/USD pair gained 0.35% to 0.7560. The AUD pushed past the 75 U.S. cents mark, the first time since mid-2018, as iron ore, Australia’s biggest export commodity, saw prices surge to a two-and-a-half year high.
“With the iron ore price on a bull run, the Aussie is largely ignoring ‘bad’ news,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:CMWAY) currency analyst Joe Capurso told Reuters.
Across the Tasman Sea, the NZD/USD pair inched up 0.10% to 0.7103, while the USD/CNY pair inched down 0.07% to 6.5389.
The GBP/USD pair was up 0.21% to 1.3321, with U.K. and EU negotiators taking a final stab at reaching a Brexit trade deal.
The pound fell 0.8% during the previous session after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Thursday there was “a strong possibility” that the U.K. and the EU would fail to strike a deal. It has shed 1% so far during the week, with efforts to strike a deal with the EU before protections on around $1 trillion in annual trade expire at the end of December showing little progress up to now.
Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has described the talks as “difficult,” have set a deadline for Sunday for the talks. This gives investors the weekend to make any last-minute adjustments to their sterling positions ahead of the deadline.
The widely-expected volatile ride to the finish line has sent pound volatility gauges soaring. One-week volatility saw a new eight-month high, with the premium of puts to calls is near its highest since April as investors coughed up cash for downside protection.
“There has been a greater tendency for more jittery sterling longs to hit the sell button, although (the) market view remains that a deal is slightly more likely than not,” Axi chief strategist Stephen Innes told Reuters.
The euro rose to $1.2158, keeping within range of the previous week’s two-and-a-half year high of $1.2177. European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said that the euro’s exchange rate had not been targeted during the central bank’s policy meeting on Thursday. However, she also added, “But clearly [the] exchange rate, and in particular the appreciation of the euro, plays an important role and exercises downward pressure on prices, so we monitor it, we will continue to monitor it very carefully going forward.”
ECB also deployed another round of monetary stimulus totaling EUR500 billion ($605.19 billion) during its policy meeting, conforming to expectations as Europe continues to fight a second wave of COVID-19 cases. EBC will continue its ongoing bond purchase stimulus by EUR500 billion euros to EUR1.85 trillion and will extend its support program until at least March 2022 from the current earliest end date of mid 2021.
The Federal Reserve also met for its policy meeting on Thursday.