US dollar continues to rise amid expectations of interest rate ‎cuts

On Wednesday, the dollar maintained an upward trend against a basket of peer currencies, while traders studied the possibilities that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) would soon begin reducing interest rates.

According to the CME Group’s Fed Watch tool, investors are betting on a 69% chance of a cut occurring during the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in March, followed by a 63.3% chance of another cut in May.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said on Tuesday that he expects to cut interest rates twice in the second half of next year, but added that there is no “urgency” now.

Thomas Barkin, President of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, also said yesterday that the performance of the economy is what will determine whether the central bank is able to achieve expectations of lowering interest rates.

The dollar index rose 0.13% to 102.25 after falling by more than 0.3% on Tuesday, and had touched the lowest level in 4 months at 101.76 last week.

The euro fell 0.19% to $1.0958, while the British pound reached $1.2715 in the latest trading.

The yen consolidated at 143.73 against the dollar after falling to 144.95 the previous day.

The Chinese yuan declined in foreign transactions against the US dollar to $7.1359

The Australian dollar was mostly stable at $0.6766, slightly below its new 5-month high of $0.6777.

In the latest transactions, the New Zealand dollar recorded $0.6276 after touching its highest levels since July 20 at $0.6282 earlier in the session.

Regarding cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $42,922.00.