Dollar adrift as optimism over China reopening turns to caution

The dollar pared some gains on Thursday after riding long-end U.S. Treasury yields higher overnight, though investors remained on edge going into the year end as initial optimism over China’s reopening fizzled, Reuters reported.
Following China’s removal of its quarantine rule for inbound travellers beginning Jan. 8, countries such as the United States, Japan and India said they would require COVID tests for travellers from China.
The speed at which the country has scrapped COVID rules has overwhelmed its health system and sparked concerns about the spread of the virus.
The Japanese yen was last roughly 0.6% higher at 133.71 per dollar, languishing near a one-week low of 134.50 that was hit in the previous session.
Sterling rose 0.1% to $1.2030, but was similarly not far off its three-week trough of $1.1993 hit last week.
The euro was up 0.12% at $1.0623.
Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index was firm at 104.33.
The Aussie was last 0.07% higher at $0.6745, while the kiwi gained 0.55% to $0.6345.
The Chinese offshore yuan rose more than 0.2% to 6.9789 per dollar.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin edged 0.12% higher to $16,560, while Ether gained 0.3% to $1,193.40, though both are on track for a decline of more than 60% this year.