Forex Today: Dollar fights back amid talks about chemical weapons

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

What you need to take care of on Friday, March 18:

The American Dollar remained under selling pressure throughout the day, accelerating its slump ahead of the London fix. The greenback was affected by persistent weakness in government bond yields following the hawkish Federal Reserve's announcement on Wednesday.

By the end of the American session, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russia might be contemplating a chemical-weapons attack, helping the greenback to recover some ground.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine keeps going without progress in peace talks. Financial markets enjoyed some temporal relief on headlines indicating that international bondholders received Russian bond coupon payments due March 16th in dollars. Nevertheless, there's an increased risk to global growth, while the war will only fuel inflationary pressures.

Ukraine and Turkey are working on setting up a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin. US President Joe Biden will talk to his Chinese counterpart Xi-Jinping on Friday to discuss the matter.

The Bank of England hiked the benchmark UK interest rate by 25bps to 0.75% from 0.50%, as had been widely expected, noting that "some further modest tightening might be appropriate in the coming months," a dovish twist that sent GBP/USD to an intraday low of 1.3087. The pair managed to recover some ground and settled at 1.3150.

The EUR/USD pair retreated from an intraday high of 1.1137 and finished the day in the 1.1090 price zone, while USD/CAD plunged to 1.2630 as oil recovered the upside, with WTI ending the day at $103.75 a barrel.

Gold flirted with $1,950 a troy ounce, ending the day at around 1,939. The AUD/USD pair retained most of its intraday gains and trades in the 0.7370 price zone.

The USD/JPY pair consolidated its latest gains, ending the day unchanged at around 118.60.

Bitcoin price maintains uptrend in response to the Federal Reserve's rate hike

Like this article? Help us with some feedback by answering this survey:

Author

Valeria Bednarik

FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

USD/JPY eyes August swing low, near 155.20 ahead of US NFP

USD/JPY retests the August monthly swing low during the Asian session on Friday as a more hawkish repricing of BoJ rate-hike bets and a suspected intervention continue to underpin the Japanese Yen. Meanwhile, the US Dollar is seen consolidating the previous day's heavy losses amid soft US bond yields, further weighing on the currency pair as traders keenly await the US NFP report.

AUD/USD consolidates above 0.7200; US NFP awaited

AUD/USD holds steady above 0.7200, near its highest level since mid-May, as bulls await the US NFP report for more cues on the Fed's policy path before placing fresh bets. Meanwhile, the recent decline in US bond yields keeps the US Dollar depressed near its lowest level in over a week and acts as a tailwind for the Aussie amid the RBA's hawkish tilt.

Gold tumbles as blockbuster US NFP lift US Dollar, Treasury yields

Gold (XAU/USD) falls sharply on Friday, snapping a two-day recovery after the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report surprised strongly to the upside. The metal briefly climbed above $4,500 on Thursday, gaining nearly 2%, but has since erased a large part of that advance.

Crypto’s $638 million buyback boom may not be as bullish as it looks

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols reportedly spent $638 million to buy back their native tokens in August, up 17% from a year earlier. On the surface, the buyback trend suggests the cryptocurrency industry is maturing fast, adopting one of Wall Street’s oldest tools to bolster valuations and distribute revenue. The headline becomes less impressive once the number is opened up.

Why hawkish Bank of Japan expectations aren't enough to sustain the Japanese Yen rally

The Japanese Yen (JPY) experienced a sudden burst higher after falling back below the 160.00 psychological mark against the US Dollar (USD) earlier this week amid a more hawkish repricing of Bank of Japan (BoJ) rate hike expectations.

Diesel’s record $100 warning: The oil shock hiding in plain sight

The Oil market may look calmer than it did a few months ago, but diesel is sending a very different message. The US diesel crack spread, the premium of ultra-low sulphur diesel futures over WTI, recently surged above $100 per barrel for the first time, reaching an intraday record of just over $102.00.