Dollar poised for 5th consecutive weekly gain

Shafaq News / The dollar was set for a fifth winning week versus major peers, making it longest winning streak for 15 months, buoyed by expectations U.S. interest rates will stay high for longer, and by a shift to safer assets due to worries over China's economy.

On Friday, however, the dollar trimmed those gains slightly as its rally against the yen kept traders on edge against the risk of intervention by Japan's authorities.

A quickening in the depreciation for China's yuan also appeared to be a concern for authorities in Beijing, as the People's Bank of China set a much-stronger-than-expected daily fixing, giving the currency some early support after it struck 9-month lows a day earlier.

The U.S. dollar index - which measures the currency against six developed-market rivals, including the yen and euro - eased 0.02% to 103.38 in the Asian day, after touching a two-month high at 103.59 overnight.

For the week, it is set to gain 0.5%.

On Thursday, minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed most members of the rate-setting committee continued to see "significant upside risks to inflation," suggesting a bias toward further rate increases.

Strong economic data this week, particularly retail sales, had already bolstered the case for additional tightening.

That all helped push 10-year Treasury yields to the highest since October at 4.328% on Thursday.

(Reuters)