US dollar inches up as risk appetite returns; bitcoin retreats

New York

THE US dollar was slightly higher on Friday, coming off its strongest level for the day, as risk appetite returned to the market in the afternoon with US equities recovering from early losses and Treasury yields extending their rise.

Investors also consolidated gains made on other currencies at the expense of the US dollar ahead of a long weekend in the United States. Financial markets are closed on Monday for Presidents Day.

The outlook for the US dollar remained lower, according to Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss Group.

The US dollar is "considered the safest of safe havens and tends to fall when people are not looking for safe havens", Mr Gittler said. "With markets rallying and the US Fed on hold indefinitely, I expect the dollar to be widely used as a funding currency, pushing its value down."

Bitcoin, meanwhile, was down 1.3 per cent on the day at US$47,356, after hitting a record high of US$49,000. It posted gains of roughly 20 per cent in a milestone week marked by the endorsement of major firms such as Elon Musk's Tesla.

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The world's most popular cryptocurrency hit a record high overnight after US banking group BNY Mellon said it had formed a unit to help clients hold, transfer and issue digital assets.

In afternoon trading, the US dollar index rose 0.1 per cent to 90.494 after subdued volumes in Asia because of the Chinese New Year. On the week, the index fell 0.6 per cent, its first losing week in three - in what ING analysts described as a "consolidative mood" amid uncertainty about the pace of the US economic recovery.

Weaker-than-expected weekly US jobless claims data on Thursday added to concerns the US dollar's previous rally had priced in too fast an economic rebound. REUTERS