Dollar rallies on Fed minutes
Currencies Direct August 22nd 2013 - < 1 minute read
The US dollar rose against most of
its major currency peers after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s
July policy meeting released on Wednesday (August 21st) showed
broad support for tapering asset purchases soon.
Fed policymakers were “broadly
comfortable” with chairman Ben Bernanke’s (pictured) plan to reduce
the size of the bank’s monthly bond buying programme this year if
the economy continues to strengthen.
“Almost all committee members
agreed that a change in the purchase programme was not yet
appropriate,” though some said “it might soon be time to slow
somewhat the pace of purchases as outlined in that plan.”
USD/JPY climbed 0.5 per cent to
98.20, bolstered by news China’s manufacturing activity hit a
four-month high in August, which also sent the Australian
dollar broadly higher.
The greenback rose against the
pound, with the GBP/USD exchange
rate down 0.4 per cent in early European trade on Thursday to
1.5596.
Earlier Wednesday, the pound had
touched on 1.5700, a two-month high, as figures from the CBI showed
UK manufacturing orders rose to a two-year high in August.
The euro was also down slightly
against the dollar, with EUR/USD sliding to 1.3332.
Written by
Currencies Direct