FOREX-Dollar set for biggest winning streak in nearly three decades on funding concerns

* Major rivals plunge to multi-year lows as investors dump
assets
* Dollar funding shortages hit longer-maturity segments
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Saikat Chatterjee
LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - The dollar extended its gains
on Thursday, putting it on its biggest rising run since 1992
against its peers, as demand for funding stayed high despite the
recent burst of liquidity injection operations undertaken by
central banks around the world.
Sterling GBP=D3 teetered near its lowest point since at
least 1985 against the greenback, while the Australian dollar
AUD=D3 tumbled to a 17-year low and the New Zealand dollar
NZD=D3 was at its weakest in 11 years as investors dumped
riskier assets.
Even the euro EUR=EBS , which briefly gained after the
European Central Bank announced a 750 billion euro ($817
billion) asset-purchase programme in response to the coronavirus
outbreak, turned lower in early London trading, heading towards
a three-year low of $1.0778 hit last month.
"Central banks are stepping up their liquidity actions but
it is not enough to make sure the dollar scarcity disappear and
as a result the dollar continues to be the favoured currency
across the board," said Manuel Oliveri, a currency strategist at
Credit Agricole in London.
The ECB's purchase scheme, announced after an emergency
meeting late on Wednesday, came less than a week after
policymakers launched fresh stimulus measures. Against its rivals, the dollar =USD firmed to 101.81, its
highest level since March 2017. It has gained more than 7% in
the past nine trading sessions.
On an eight-day rolling basis, it is on its biggest rise
since September 1992.
Though global central banks have pumped in billions of
dollars in emergency liquidity injections in recent days and
strengthened swap lines with some global central banks, dollar
funding pressures remained exacerbated across the board.
Investors are selling what they can to keep their money in
dollars due to the unprecedented amount of uncertainty caused by
the epidemic, which threatens to paralyse swathes of the global
economy.
Kit Juckes, a strategist at Societe Generale in London, said
that though there has been an improvement in the front end of
the dollar liquidity curve, longer tenor funding in some corners
of the market remained high.
In New Zealand for example, one-year FX swaps NZDCBS=ICAP
remained at their highest levels in nearly two decades,
according to Refinitiv data.
The broad rush for dollars has forced investors to unload
Treasuries and other government bonds as well as gold in order
to keep their money in cash dollars.
This has confounded many analysts because investors normally
buy government debt and precious metals during times of
uncertainty.
Elsewhere, the Swiss franc edged higher against the euro
EURCHF=EBS after the policy decision, as investors had
expected the ECB to keep rates on hold, though the franc
remained within striking distance of a July 2015 high hit
overnight at 1.0532 francs per euro.