Dollar near its 7-month low, Yen dips

The US dollar hovered near seven-month lows on Friday as fears of an economic slowdown weighed on risk appetite, while the yen weakened even as speculation mounted that the Bank of Japan would eventually abandon its ultra-loose monetary policy.

According to “Reuters”, the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six major currencies, rose 0.098 percent to 102.12, not far from its lowest level in seven months at 101.51, which it touched on Wednesday.

The index has fallen 1.3 percent this year, after declining 7.7 percent in the last three months of 2022, as investors bet that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will slow the pace of raising interest rates.

The Japanese yen fell 0.64 percent against the dollar, to 129.26. Expectations that the Bank of Japan will soon end its policy of controlling bond yields led to the yen rising 14 percent in the past three months.

The euro was stable, while the pound sterling recorded in the latest trading at $1.2372, down 0.14 percent during the day.

The Australian dollar rose 0.17 percent against the US currency, to $ 0.692. The New Zealand dollar rose 0.25 percent to $ 0.641.