The U.S. dollar has lost a fourth straight week against the European currency (and against the pound and the yen as well) as the whole week was filled with the bad economic news from the United States.
Japanese foreign exchange reserves rose to a new absolute maximum value last month — almost $1.01 trillion. A $11.9 billion change is attributed to the growth of the euro against the dollar, which was significant in February.
The U.S. dollar continued its weekly decline today, as the market participants awaited the results of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England monetary meetings.
The Great Britain pound fell to its lowest historical value against the euro today after the pessimistic economic news were released in UK. Pound also lowered against other major currencies today.
The Reserve Bank of Australia increased the national benchmark rate for the second time in 2008 — from 7.00% to 7.25%. The last time interest rate was increased on the 5th of February.
The Japanese yen rallied today during and after the Asian trading session, as the stock market in Japan plunged rapidly today. The risk-averting investors’ massive sell-off cut the NIKKEI 225 index by almost 4.5%.
After one of the worst weeks for the U.S. dollar and the attraction of the large capitals to the high-yielding assets this week, the Australian dollar reached its record high value against USD in 24 years.