NEW YORK, March 17 (Xinhua) — The U.S. dollar fell sharply against its major rivals in late trade on Friday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.67 percent to 103.7153.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to US$1.0682 from US$1.0611 in the previous session, and the British pound was up at US$1.2197 from US$1.2121 in the previous session.
The US dollar bought 131.67 Japanese yen, down from 133.49 Japanese yen from the previous session. The US dollar was down to 0.9252 Swiss francs from 0.9298 Swiss francs and it was down to 1.3719 Canadian dollars from 1.3725 Canadian dollars. The US dollar was down to SEK 10.4809 from SEK 10.5152.
“Falling Treasury yields and a weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment report are putting pressure on the US currency,” Vladimir Zernov, an analyst at market intelligence provider FX Empire, said on Friday.
US Treasury yields fell on Friday as investors cautiously assessed the health of the financial sector in the wake of the recent banking crisis. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year note fell 19 basis points to about 3.39 percent on Friday afternoon, and the yield on the 2-year Treasury note also fell. A rising yield is the dollar bullish, while a falling yield is bearish.
On the data front, the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 63.4 in March from 67 in February, compared with the market consensus of 67.
Source: sn.dk