The dollar rose to a five-month high against a basket of major currencies on Friday, helped by weakness in the euro as investors fretted about political uncertainty in Italy.
The dollar index has gained for five straight sessions and is on track for a 1.3 percent weekly gain. It has risen 5 percent since mid-February, with investors betting U.S. interest rates will need to rise further to curb inflation.
Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto, however, believes the dollar’s rally was more about extreme short positioning that needed to unwind.”We continue to view dollar gains as a temporary issue reflecting excessive short positioning and concerns European growth momentum has slowed and may impair the ECB’s (European Central Bank) willingness to move away from quantitative easing later this year.”
The euro on Friday was headed for its fifth successive weekly decline versus the dollar, its first such fall since 2015.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!