Asian session review: the dollar rose slightly against most currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar strengthened against most currencies. Strong statistical data on the US economy, published yesterday, supported the risk appetite in global markets. This factor, as well as a sharp decline in US treasury bond yields, put pressure on the US currency.

The ten-year US Treasuries interest rate fell to 1.531% on Thursday, down from 1.637% at the close of previous trading. The drop was the most significant since the beginning of November. On Friday, the yield on these securities rose slightly to 1.584%.

As the US Department of Labor reported yesterday, the number of new applications for unemployment benefits in the country last week decreased by 193 thousand, to 576 thousand, which is the lowest since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

U.S. retail sales jumped 9.8% in March, the fastest pace since May last year, according to data from the Department of Commerce.

In addition to increasing risk appetite amid signals of a rapid recovery in the US economy, the continued commitment of the Federal Reserve (Fed) to maintain ultra-loose monetary policy remains a deterrent for the dollar.

The ICE index, which tracks the dollar's performance against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), rose 0.07%.