(Updates prices, adds commentary, changes byline, previous
dateline London)
* Dollar off two-month high after best week in almost six
months
* Big net short dollar position points to chance of further
rise
* Euro bounces from two-month low
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The dollar retreated from a
two-month high against a basket of currencies on Monday as
equities rallied after four straight weeks of declines ahead of
a busy week of economic data and political developments in the
United States.
A rebound in U.S. stocks at the end of last week helped slow
the climb of the dollar, considered a safe haven, but signs of a
slowdown in the nascent recovery from the pandemic and political
uncertainties have kept investors on the defensive.
Major indexes on Wall Street were up more than 1% as stocks
rebounded following four straight weeks of declines, the longest
such streak for the S&P 500 .SPX and Dow Industrials (.DJI> in
over a year. "The dollar as of several months ago has been trading in
tandem with the equity markets, when equities goes up, the
dollar goes down," said Axel Merk, president of Merk Investments
and portfolio manager of the Merk Hard Currency Fund in Palo
Alto, California.
"The dollar has been acting like a funding currency,
basically when the world is reflating, when risk assets go up,
when equities go up, then the dollar is weakening."
The dollar index slipped as low as 94.155 =USD on the day
and last fell 0.317%, on pace for its biggest daily percentage
drop in about three weeks. The greenback reached a two-month
high of 94.745 last week and posted its biggest weekly rise
since early April. Against the yen, the dollar was more subdued
at 105.45 yen JPY= .
Sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.2849, up 0.89% on
hopes Britain could secure a Brexit trade deal with the EU.
The euro EUR= gained 0.31% to $1.1666 after dropping to
$1.16125 on Friday, its lowest in two months.
Even with Monday's softening, Friday's data on U.S. currency
futures positions suggested the dollar had room to rise further,
with speculators holding a big net short position in the
currency which they could move to cover if the dollar moves
higher. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's broad measure of
dollar positioning showed speculators' net short position rose
to $33.989 billion last week NETUSDALL= , up from $31.524
billion the week before and near its highest in almost a decade.
The flip side of that was a large net long position in the
euro, which inched up last week to $27.922 billion EURNETUSD= .
Investor attention may now turn to the first U.S.
presidential debate on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, worries abound that the economic recovery is
stalling as many stimulus programs have expired, curbing
consumer spending. On Sunday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
said she thought a deal could be reached with the White House on
a fresh coronavirus relief package as talks continued.
This week will bring more data on the health of the world's
biggest economy, including consumer confidence on Tuesday, a
manufacturing survey and consumer data on Thursday, and jobs
figures on Friday.
========================================================
Currency bid prices at 2:44PM (1844 GMT)
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1666 $1.1630 +0.31% +4.07% +1.1678 +1.1616
Dollar/Yen JPY= 105.5100 105.6000 -0.09% -3.08% +105.6800 +105.2700
Euro/Yen EURJPY= 123.09 122.76 +0.27% +0.93% +123.1500 +122.4000
Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9239 0.9284 -0.48% -4.54% +0.9295 +0.9243
Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2849 1.2736 +0.89% -3.09% +1.2925 +1.2747
Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3368 1.3384 -0.12% +2.94% +1.3403 +1.3353
Australian/Doll AUD= 0.7074 0.7027 +0.67% +0.75% +0.7074 +0.7009
ar
Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0782 1.0801 -0.18% -0.65% +1.0829 +1.0774
Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.9078 0.9123 -0.49% +7.38% +0.9124 +0.9056
NZ NZD= 0.6558 0.6542 +0.24% -2.64% +0.6567 +0.6530
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway NOK= 9.4698 9.5720 -1.07% +7.88% +9.5899 +9.4575
Euro/Norway EURNOK= 11.0480 11.1346 -0.78% +12.30% +11.1556 +11.0387
Dollar/Sweden SEK= 9.0417 9.1281 -0.56% -3.27% +9.1429 +9.0248
Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.5501 10.6096 -0.56% +0.77% +10.6295 +10.5300
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Dollar hovers near 2-month high https://tmsnrt.rs/3i6yOvv
Dollar shorts near 9-year high https://tmsnrt.rs/3cCMJIx
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