Title: Dollar firms on hawkish Fed remarks, yen hits lowest since 2015

Mar 24, 2022 05:15AM ET

By: AnalysisWatch

The dollar strengthened as oil prices stabilized, commodity currencies gave back some of their recent gains, and the Japanese yen fell to its lowest level since 2015.

Equity markets were volatile and struggled to make gains in Asian trading after more cautious comments from the US Federal Reserve made investors more cautious.

Fed policymakers signaled on Wednesday that they may take more aggressive action to lower inflation, including a possible half-percentage point rate hike at the next meeting in May.

The Japanese yen fell for a fifth straight session against the U.S. dollar, hitting its lowest level since 2015, as the Bank of Japan is expected to delay policy tightening by other major central banks.

At 04:25 AM ET, the dollar was 0.3% up against the yen at 121.52, compared to the previous day.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was higher 0.2%, moving within its recent trading range.

US President Joe Biden landed in Brussels amid a dispute with European allies over whether to impose more energy sanctions on Russia. As markets await an escalation of sanctions against Russia, Biden will attend an emergency NATO summit, meet with G7 leaders and address European Union leaders.

The latest shock to global energy markets was Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that "unfriendly" countries will soon have to pay for their fuel in the Russian currency, the rouble.

The euro slipped 0.1% on the day to $1.0993.

Commodity currencies slipped, with the Australian dollar down 0.3% to $0.7481. The NZ dollar lost 0.3% to $0.69535.

Bitcoin held broadly steady at around $43,100.