Money markets watch for a decision on Syria

Published: 10 Sep at 9 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar,

The US dollar has recovered slightly although it is likely to remain under pressure because of the uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s plans to taper its bond buying programme and the situation regarding a possible invasion of Syria.

However, the situation in the Middle East seems to have eased following a proposal by Russia that Syria’s chemical weapons be placed under international control.

President Obama said that if this happened then any plans for a military strike would definitely be put on hold. The dollar suffered an upset at the end of last week after US job figures for August were not as positive as expected. The Feds planned tapering of its easy money policy depends on the health of the US economy being back on track.

The euro is holding its own after hitting a high on Monday of $1.3280. The single currency is currently worth $1.3253. Against the yen the dollar has managed to pull back 0.1 per cent to 99.68 yen. The dollar index is also slightly up at 81.841.

Elsewhere, positive growth in China has helped support the Australian dollar which is up 0.1 per cent to $0.9232. China is Australia’s main trading partner and data released at the weekend indicates that exports were up during August. Good news for China is always good news for the Aussie.