Dollar Down, Investors Await Central Bank Meetings

The dollar was down on Monday morning in Asia. Investors are awaiting central bank meetings including Australia, the UK, and Europe.

The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies edged down 0.11% to 97.155 by 10:41 PM ET (3:41 AM GMT).

Analysts forecast over 90% chances that there will be at least four interest rate hikes by the end of 2022 and 67% chances of at least five.

“The USD ‘smiled’ again, drawing on a combination of rates repricing and much weaker risk sentiment,” analysts at Barclays (LON:BARC) told Reuters

The USD/JPY pair was up 0.26% to 115.54.

The AUD/USD pair was up 0.36% to 0.7011. Analysts await the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) meeting on Tuesday morning as they are expecting an announcement to end its quantitative easing program.

Meanwhile, the central bank’s governor will speak on Wednesday and a statement on monetary policy will be released on Friday.

The week “will go far to define the psychology of the market for the next few months,” Westpac analysts told Reuters. “That QE will cease will not be a surprise, so the real focus is on the RBA’s shifting economic view and its implications for the (benchmark) cash rate.”

The NZD/USD pair increased 0.46% to 0.6564.

The USD/CNY pair stay unchanged at 6.3610. Data released on Sunday showed that China’s January manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) was 50.1, and the non-manufacturing PMI was 51.1.

The GBP/USD pair inched up 0.06% to 1.3412. The Bank of England (BOE) has a meeting on Thursday. Investors expect the BOE will increase the interest rate for the second time in less than two months. The country’s Inflation surged to its highest point in nearly 30 years and the central bank phases out some stimulus policies since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) will also have a meeting on Thursday, but analysts do not expect any policy change.

Dollar Down, Investors Await Central Bank Meetings