US dollar falls, but on pace for eight straight weeks of gains; yuan slumps

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

markets, which have kept the chances of another interest rate increase this year.

Despite Friday's fall, the greenback was headed for eight straight weeks of gains, the longest such streak since 2014.

«The dollar is benefiting from a return of the U.S. exceptionalism theme,» said Vassili Serebriakov, FX strategist, at UBS in New York, referring to the country's economic outperformance compared to the rest of the world.

«The resilient U.S.

consumer and labor markets have raised questions on whether the Federal Reserve needs to raise rates further,» he added.

China's onshore yuan, on the other hand, ended its domestic session at its weakest since 2007, as it battles capital outflow pressures and a widening yield gap with major economies.

In late morning trading, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was last down 0.2% at 104.84.

It hit a six-month peak of 105.15 the previous session. The index so far this week was up 0.6%.

That said, Serebriakov said that while eight weeks are an unusually long stretch of dollar strength, the currency's gains are getting smaller every week.

«The market is quite long dollars already and the incremental upside has been small.

So I think the market is having a hard time pushing the dollar significantly higher,» he added.
The euro, the largest component in the dollar index, was on track for eight straight weeks of losses and down 0.3% on the week. It was last up 0.4% on the day though, having fallen to a three-month low on Thursday.

Data out this week showed the U.S.

services sector unexpectedly gained steam in August and that jobless claims last week hit their lowest since February. In the euro zone, however, industrial production in Germany, Europe's