Title: Dollar Up, Yen Down as BOJ Continues Dovish Stance

Mar 28, 2022 12:20AM ET

By: AnalysisWatch

The dollar strengthened in Asia on Monday morning. The Japanese yen continued its downward trend after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) intervened in the market to defend its implicit interest rate cap. So far this year, bitcoin has climbed to near its highest levels.

At 12:11 p.m. ET, US dollar index futures, which track the greenback against a basket of other currencies, were up 0.35% at 99.170.

The USD/JPY pair was up 0.83% at 123.07.

The pair AUD/USD rose 0.21% to 0.7528, while the pair NZD/USD fell 0.29% to 0.6950.

The USD/CNY pair rose 0.13% to 0.6748, while the GBP/USD pair fell 0.26% to 1.3154.

Although rising commodity prices have hurt the yen recently, they have boosted commodity currencies. The Australian dollar was near the previous week's four-month high, while its Canadian counterpart was at 1.2496 per dollar, close to Friday's two-month high.

Australia will also present its budget on Tuesday. Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg said on Sunday that the budget would be a "very significant material improvement" to the government's balance sheet.

However, the latest COVID-19 outbreak could be a potential headwind for Australia's currency as Shanghai has imposed a curfew to stem the rising number of cases in the city. The dollar gained 0.17% against the offshore yuan on Monday morning, rising to 6.394.

The latest US labor market report, which includes non-farm payrolls, will be released on Friday.

However, the data is not expected to have a major impact on US interest rate expectations or the dollar, as the market has already braced itself for several rate hikes in 2022.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was near $46,800 after rising as high as $47,766 in early trading, its highest level since early January 2022.