The dollar is moderately declining against the euro, but growing against the Japanese yen, renewing its maximum value in 24 years.
The ICE-calculated index, which shows the performance of the US dollar against six currencies (the euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and the Swedish krona), is practically unchanged on Wednesday morning, as is the broader WSJ Dollar.
The euro/dollar pair is trading at $0.9721 by 8:52 p.m. compared to $0.9707 at the close of the session on Tuesday, the euro adds about 0.1%.
Meanwhile, the rate of the American currency against the yen rose by almost 0.3% and amounted to 146.25 yen compared to 145.86 yen the day before. This is the highest rate since August 1998. The last time the yen fell to a 24-year low at the end of September, after which the Japanese Ministry of Finance intervened in the foreign exchange market to support the national currency.
The dollar is strengthening against the yen due to mixed monetary policy rates: while the Fed is actively raising interest rates, the Bank of Japan continues to adhere to extremely soft monetary policy.
The pound rose 0.4% to $1.1012 compared to $1.0968 at the close of the previous session.
Traders are evaluating conflicting signals about the Bank of England’s emergency government bond purchase program.
British Central Bank Chairman Andrew Bailey said that the regulator will complete the purchase of bonds on Friday, as planned. “The essence of interventions to stabilize financial markets is partly that this is a temporary phenomenon,” he said.
However, the Financial Times then wrote, citing three anonymous sources, that the Central Bank privately hinted to representatives of some banks about the possibility of extending the bond purchase program in order to protect UK pension funds from losses.
