The dollar gained considerable ground Friday, swinging in unusually wide ranges and reversing course several times to end the week on a strong note.
A midday rally based largely on technical trading wiped out earlier intraday losses for the greenback, but analysts had trouble explaining the dollar's surge.
After a choppy morning session, the dollar shot higher, recovering more than a yen versus its Japanese counterpart and a cent against the euro. In the space of a few minutes, the greenback reached intraday peaks against all its widely traded counterparts
I honestly can't figure it out," John McCarthy, director of foreign exchange at ING Capital Markets, said shortly after the rally began. "The market's being jerked around both ways [Friday]."
He pointed out that the dollar fell after the release of somewhat positive data on U.S. nonfarm payrolls in November. The unemployment rate also remained rather low, in line with expectations.
Mr. McCarthy said that Treasury Secretary Paulson's comments on CNBC were aggressive about China, but he would have thought that would be negative for the dollar, as more flexibility for the yuan would mean a weaker dollar. Ahead of his trip to Beijing next week, Mr. Paulson said China must move more quickly to open its economy and reiterated the longstanding mantra that a strong dollar is in the nation's best interest.
Amarjit Sahota, head of risk management at the San Francisco branch of HIFX, a foreign-exchange consulting firm, said the dollar's move could be tied to Mr. Paulson's TV interview.
The renewal of a strong dollar policy, combined with the fact that he's going to China and going with [Fed Chief Ben] Bernanke," is propping up the dollar, he said.
[ 本帖最后由 Trend 于 2007-1-10 18:39 编辑 ] |