Asian session review: the dollar rose against most major currencies

The US dollar rose against the euro and the yen and rose slightly against the yuan on the back of a base rate cut by the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Traders are evaluating plans by some States to gradually ease measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus. US President Trump said on Saturday that a number of States will begin to gradually return to normal life this week. Texas and Vermont are planning to open some stores first.

Earlier, Trump said that a plan for economic recovery has been developed. The first stage of the plan provides that state authorities can move to ease restrictions after they have recorded a" downward trajectory "of cases of COVID-19 detection within a 14-day period, or a" downward trajectory " of positive tests during the same time period.

Meanwhile, Japanese exports in March 2020 declined at the highest rate since July 2016 - by 11.7% - amid weakening economic activity around the world due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Japan's foreign trade surplus fell to 4.95 billion yen in March from 522.7 billion a year earlier.

The People's Bank of China has lowered its benchmark interest rate to help revive an economy that has been hit hard by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The rate on loans for the year was reduced by 20 basis points to 3.85% from 4.05%. The rate on loans for five years or more has been lowered to 4.65% from 4.75%.

The ICE Dollar index, which shows the value of the dollar against six major world currencies, rose 0.20% from the previous day.