dollar bounced back Friday from broad losses suffered when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke kept the door open to another round of economic stimulus.
After falling to its lowest point since December 2009, the ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, retraced its decline to post a modest gain on the day. The euro retreated from levels last seen in January, while the dollar recovered modestly from 15-year lows against the yen
Investors still consider likely another round of Fed asset purchases, said Alan Ruskin, global head of G-10 foreign exchange strategy at Deutsche Bank in New York. But after the initial round of knee-jerk dollar selling on the heels of Bernanke's comments, "the sense is maybe the story is priced in for the most part," he said. "Now we've got to wait it out...to get some more detail" on the Fed's possible plan for asset purchases, he said.
"You can't just sell the dollar blindly on that news," Ruskin said, noting Bernanke said nothing particularly new.
Bernanke stopped short of announcing a new policy, saying as the Fed contemplates doing more, officials "will take account of the potential costs and risks" of pursuing unconventional policies, and anything that is done will be "contingent on incoming information about the economic outlook and financial conditions."
Australia's mining boom, robust labor market and rising interest rates have all helped to shove the Australian dollar 20% higher against its U.S. counterpart since the middle of this year. With some key central banks still looking to ease conditions further, the Reserve Bank of Australia has already bumped its core cash rate 150 basis points higher since late 2009--a key driver of currency strength.
Late Friday afternoon, the euro was at $1.3974 from $1.4077 late Thursday, according to EBS via CQG. The dollar was at Y81.41 from Y81.51, after dropping as far as Y80.88, touching the line of its 15-year low. The euro was at Y113.77 from Y114.74. The U.K. pound was at $1.5983 from $1.6013 after gaining to $1.6104. The dollar was at CHF0.9578 from CHF0.9527.
The ICE Dollar Index was at 76.984 from 76.563.
