Dollar advances as traders weigh rate-cut bets, Red Sea tensions
By Ankur Banerjee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The dollar rose on Tuesday as investors pared back bets on near-term rate-cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve following hawkish comments from European Central Bank officials, while worries of more attacks on ships in the Red Sea weighed on risk sentiment.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar rose about 0.3% to 102.94, after having gained 0.2% overnight in subdued trading during a U.S. public holiday on Monday.
The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0912, set for its steepest one-day percentage drop in two weeks. Sterling was last at $1.2679, down 0.38% on the day, edging away from a near-five month high of $1.2825 hit in late December.
Comments from European Central Bank officials pushing back against early rate cuts cast a shadow on the rate outlook globally.
«It's too early to talk about cuts, inflation is too high,» ECB's Joachim Nagel said on Monday, adding that the mistake of lowering interest rates too early should be avoided.
Money markets are pricing in 145 basis points (bps) worth of cuts to the ECB's deposit rate this year, most likely starting in April.
«The hawkish ECB commentaries last night have fuelled concerns that market pricing for the Fed rate path may also be aggressive,» said Charu Chanana, head of currency strategy at Saxo in Singapore.
«Some safe-haven demand also likely to be at play with Red Sea disruptions escalating.»
An official from Yemen's Houthi movement said on Monday the group will expand its targets in the Red Sea region to include U.S. ships, vowing to keep up attacks after U.S. and British strikes on its sites in Yemen.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars, both considered a proxy for risk appetite, fell sharply and were down more than 0.5% to their
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