Dollar up ahead of Fed meeting this week

Published: 19 Aug at 11 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar,

The US dollar has made a small gain against a number of rival currencies ahead of a policy meeting at the Federal Reserve later in the week. The dollar index gained 0.1 per cent to hit 81.352. It is likely that the greenback will do even better if the minutes of the Fed meeting point to a reeling in of the central bank’s bond buying strategy.

The euro shed 0.1 per cent to end at $1.3324 following a high of $1.3380 achieved on Friday. Although the euro has been supported recently by a string of positive economic data, analysts believe that the April to June quarter will mark a peak for the single currency this year.

Last Wednesday it was revealed that Germany and France, the zone’s biggest economies, had improved better than expected during the year’s second quarter, something that helped pull the eurozone out of recession.

The dollar is also up 0.2 per cent against the yen to 97.69 yen. All eyes are now on Wednesday’s Fed meeting to see if the dollar is likely to continue to climb against the Japanese currency.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar has pulled back 0.4 per cent to reach $0.9215 after earlier rising as high as $0.9234.