Dollar posts best week in 15 months

new york — The dollar rose on Friday for its strongest week against a basket of currencies in nearly 15 months as some traders piled into the greenback in a week of tremendous swings felt in stock and bond markets around the world.

The US currency recovered further from a three-year low set two weeks ago. Some traders have bought it to close out their bets on its weakness, while others favoured the dollar in a safe-haven move over higher-returning but riskier currencies, analysts said.

Last week’s dramatic moves — in equities with the Dow falling over 1,000 points on Thursday and in bonds with 10-year yield rising to a four-year peak earlier last week — were stoked by concerns about signs of inflation amid an improving global backdrop and speculation whether the Federal Reserve and other major central banks would act quicker to raise interest rates.

Equity and bond market volatility has surged last week. While foreign exchange markets have been calmer, the turbulence was enough to upend some popular trades, analysts said.

The greenback stabilised versus safe-haven currencies after Thursday’s decline. It rebounded from a four-month low to 108.58 yen, down 0.15 per cent. It was up 0.32 per cent at $0.9388 Swiss franc. Against a basket of six major currencies, the greenback was up 0.22 per cent at 90.427. — Reuters