* U.S. dollar at three-year lows vs Aussie dollar
* Euro-dollar crosses $1.22
* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
(Rewrites throughout, updates prices, new byline, changes
dateline, previous LONDON)
By Karen Brettell
NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The dollar index fell to a
seven-week low on Thursday, the Australian dollar hit a
three-year high and safe havens weakened as global growth
optimism sent government debt yields surging worldwide.
Easy financial conditions, the promise of fiscal stimulus
and accelerating COVID-19 vaccine rollouts have boosted
expectations that growth and inflation will accelerate.
More recently, bond yields after adjusting for inflation
have also risen at a faster pace, indicating a growing belief
that central banks may begin to pare back their ultra-loose
policies, even as central bank officials have maintained their
dovish rhetoric.
“It has been a global move, I think that's one part of why
the dollar wasn't rallying even with higher yields,” said
Vassili Serebriakov, an FX strategist at UBS in New York. “Those
higher bond yields are a symptom of expectations of a strong
economic rebound after the pandemic.”
The dollar dipped 0.26% against a basket of currencies
=USD to 89.797, its lowest since Jan. 8.
Data on Thursday showed that fewer Americans filed new
claims for unemployment benefits last week amid falling COVID-19
infections. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated on Wednesday
that the U.S. central bank would not tighten its policy until
the economy improves. Commodity-linked currencies, including the Australian, New
Zealand and Canadian dollars, all hit three-year highs as their
bond yields surged.
“The U.S. has actually lagged a lot of these other countries
in terms of the yield moves,” said Erik Nelson, a macro
strategist at Wells Fargo in New York, noting that New Zealand's
10-year Treasury yield gained 18 basis points on Thursday.
NZ10YT=RR
That is "pretty stunning," he said. “The commodity space has
obviously been very hot recently.”
The Aussie AUD=D3 got as high as $0.80007 against the
greenback while the kiwi NZD=D3 reached $0.7463.
The Canadian dollar CAD=D3 got as far as 1.2468 loonies
per U.S. dollar.
The euro also gained to a three-week high, despite its bond
yield increases lagging other countries. It was last up 0.44% at
$1.2224. EUR=EBS
The safe-haven Japanese yen, which tends to underperform
when global growth improves, weakened as far as 106.20 yen per
dollar. JPY=D3
“Some of the currencies that typically don't do well in a
global rebound are lagging,” Serebriakov said. “There is some
differentiation (in dollar weakness), it's not just across the
board the way it was last year when everything was driven by
U.S. real yields falling and selling dollars across the board.”
Bitcoin was last up 2.67% on the day at $51,080, having
recovered some of its losses from the start of the week
BTC=BTSP .
========================================================
Currency bid prices at 10:15AM (1515 GMT)
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Dollar index =USD 89.7970 90.0450 -0.26% -0.204% +90.1440 +89.6770
Euro/Dollar EUR=EBS $1.2224 $1.2170 +0.44% +0.05% +$1.2244 +$1.2140
Dollar/Yen JPY=D3 106.1600 105.8600 +0.26% +2.76% +106.1900 +105.8800
Euro/Yen EURJPY= 129.76 128.79 +0.75% +2.24% +129.8900 +128.7900
Dollar/Swiss CHF=EBS 0.9046 0.9065 -0.20% +2.26% +0.9081 +0.9038
Sterling/Dollar GBP=D3 $1.4151 $1.4143 +0.07% +3.59% +$1.4182 +$1.4124
Dollar/Canadian CAD=D3 1.2498 1.2515 -0.14% -1.86% +1.2520 +1.2468
Aussie/Dollar AUD=D3 $0.7960 $0.7968 -0.11% +3.46% +$0.8007 +$0.7953
Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.1056 1.1029 +0.24% +2.30% +1.1097 +1.1026
Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8635 0.8604 +0.36% -3.38% +0.8655 +0.8597
NZ NZD=D3 $0.7435 $0.7443 -0.08% +3.57% +$0.7464 +$0.7420
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway NOK=D3 8.3815 8.3720 -0.11% -2.61% +8.3920 +8.3200
Euro/Norway EURNOK= 10.2450 10.1916 +0.52% -2.12% +10.2548 +10.1759
Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.2396 8.2747 +0.10% +0.53% +8.2831 +8.2067
Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.0738 10.0642 +0.10% -0.03% +10.0832 +10.0410
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World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
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