The dollar rises 0.11% with anticipation of the pace of interest cuts

The dollar rose today, Tuesday, as traders awaited an important report on US retail sales and statements from Federal Reserve officials, searching for clear signals about the timing and pace of reducing interest rates. The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of 6 major currencies, rose 0.11% to reach 105.39 during the trading session in Asia.

The dollar index lost 0.2% yesterday, Monday, after falling from its highest level in a month and a half, which it recorded on Friday at 105.80. The dollar swung in both directions as moderate US inflation readings contradicted the general position of Federal officials, which tends to tighten monetary policy at last week’s meeting, when they reduced their previous average expectations for interest rate cuts from three cuts this year to one.

The rise in the dollar index was mostly driven by large sales of the euro, after French President Emmanuel Macron suddenly called for early legislative elections last week in response to the defeat suffered by his ruling centrist party against the National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen in the European Parliament elections.

There was little change in the dollar at 157.675 yen today. The euro fell 0.12% to $1.0721, reducing part of the previous session’s gains of 0.26%.

The British pound fell 0.07% to $1.2696. The euro stabilized somewhat this week after Le Pen indicated that she does not intend to pursue extreme fiscal policies if she takes power, and that she will not push for Macron’s ouster.

At the same time, the Australian dollar was not affected by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s expected decision to keep interest rates unchanged on Tuesday, and settled at 0.66115 US dollars. The New Zealand dollar fell 0.27% to 0.61145 US dollars. In terms of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin lost approximately 1% to $65,725, and earlier touched the lowest level in a month at $64,569.7.