US Dollar Weakens amid Worries of Higher Interest Rates Prospect
23 March 2017 09:46 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The US dollar was closed weaker against major currencies on Wednesday (Thursday morning Indonesia time) due to escalating concerns about the prospect of higher interest rates in the United States.
The Federal Reserve has decided to increase estimate federal funds target rate by 25 basis points to 0.75-1.0 percent on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.
The Fed said that policymakers expect interest rates to increase by 1.4 percent by the end of 2017, unchanged from the initial forecast, hinting at plans to raise interest rates two more times this year.
Ever since the greenback has been under pressure after The Fed failed to give the signal about a quicker pace of interest rate increases.
The dollar index, measuring the greenback against six major currencies, slipped 0.15 percent to 99.659 at the end of Wednesday’s trade.
In late New York trading, euro rose to 1.0804 dollars from 1.0802 dollars in the previous session, and pound sterling strengthened to 1.2485 dollars from 1.2483 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7681 dollars from 0.7699 dollars.
Japan yen was traded at 110.87 per US dollar, lower than 111.88 yen per US dollar in the previous session. US dollar fell to 0.9916 Swiss francs from 0.9942 Swiss francs and slightly dropped to 1.3343 Canadian dollars from 1.3348 Canadian dollars.
ANTARA
