By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was up on Thursday morning in Asia but was holding near a three-week low. U.S. bond yields pulled back from March's surge as the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to insist that interest rates can stay low.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched up 0.01% to 91.685 by 13:05 AM ET (5:05 AM GMT), after slipping to a four-week low overnight.
The USD/JPY pair was inched 0.04% to 108.87, slipping below the 109 mark.
The AUD/USD pair edged down 0.12% to 0.7711 while the NZD/USD pair was inched up 0.07% to 0.7143.
The USD/CNY pair was edged up 0.16% to 6.5398 while the GBP/USD pair inched down 0.07% to 1.3769. China will release GDP, industrial production and fixed asset investment data on Friday.
The euro traded at $1.19845, near its highest level in four weeks and has gained 2.2% so far in April.
"The dollar has been losing steam a bit in line with falls in U.S. bond yields as the Fed has maintained its dovish stance," Nomura Securities chief currency strategist Yujiro Goto told Reuters.
The Fed has repeatedly pledged to keep interest rates low, which has helped stabilize U.S. bonds. The benchmark ten-year U.S. bond yields eased to 1.636% on Thursday but were well below the 14-month peak of 1.776% hit in late March.
Although some investors remained concerned that the Fed could change its tune later in 2021 should inflation readings climb much higher than expected, they seem to be taking the central bank at its word for now.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed will reduce its monthly bond purchases before committing to an interest rate increase in his speech at the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday. However, many investors already take this scenario for granted.
The U.S. releases further data, including March’s retail sales, later in the day.
Bitcoin traded near the $64,895.22 record high it hit on Wednesday. Shares in cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) closed at $328.28, giving the firm a market capitalization of $65.39 billion in its volatile Nasdaq debut on Wednesday.