U.S. dollar declines amid expectations for further rate cuts

Source: Xinhua | 2020-03-07

The U.S. dollar declined in late trading on Friday as investors widely expect the U.S. central bank to further cut interest rates.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday lowered the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 1 percent to 1.25 percent amid COVID-19 concerns.

But investors widely expect the Fed to further its interest rate cuts in March. Market expectations for a 75-basis-point rate cut stood at 60.4 percent while expectations for a 50-basis-point cut were at 39.6 percent, according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group's FedWatch tool.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.91 percent at 95.9613 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro was up to 1.1314 U.S. dollars from 1.1199 U.S. dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.3013 U.S. dollars from 1.2945 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar rose to 0.6639 U.S. dollar from 0.6591 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 105.23 Japanese yen, lower than 106.39 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9368 Swiss franc from 0.9486 Swiss franc, and it decreased to 1.3423 Canadian dollars from 1.3427 Canadian dollars.