The strong U.S. dollar hovered near a one-week high on Tuesday, while the Australian dollar, euro and Chinese yuan remained under pressure as weak global economic data reignited recession fears.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was steady at 106.51, slightly below the previous session’s peak of 106.55, the strongest reading since Monday last week.
The euro, the currency with the most weight in the dollar index, was little changed at $1.0158 after earlier falling to its weakest since Aug. 5 at $1.0154.
Sterling fell 0.1% to $1.2040, its lowest level since August 5.
The dollar fell 0.09% to 133.19 against the yen, the much sought-after haven currency.
The global safety bet was driven by a series of weak global economic indicators.
U.S. single-family homebuilder confidence and New York state factory activity fell in August to their lowest levels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed on Monday.
This followed surprisingly weak data on Chinese activity, covering industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment, as the recovery from draconian COVID-19 lockdowns faltered.
Against the offshore yuan, the dollar rose 0.07% to 6.8174, returning to Monday’s high of 6.8200, the last level since mid-May.
The Australian dollar fell to $0.70005, threatening to fall below the psychological mark of 70 cents for the first time since Wednesday.
The New Zealand kiwi fell to $0.6349, also the lowest since Wednesday.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to raise rates again by half a point on Wednesday, with attention to whether policymakers from the Federal Reserve and Reserve Bank of Australia follow through on a shift to a more data-driven approach.
“Weakness in the US and Chinese economies is usually a bad sign for commodities,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist Joseph Kapurso wrote in a note to clients. “Path of least resistance for New Zealand dollar is lower ahead of tomorrow’s Reserve Bank of New Zealand meeting”.
