Asian session review: the dollar declined slightly against the major currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar declined slightly against the euro and the yen. The ICE index, which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), fell by 0.1%.

Experts at Saxo Bank noted that the rapid rally in US treasuries in recent trading days, with a corresponding drop in yields, strongly supported low-yielding currencies-from the euro to the swiss franc with its deeply negative yields. The yield on ten-year US Treasuries on Thursday fell to 1.664% from 1.674% at the end of trading the day before.

The leaders of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) do not fear an excessive increase in inflation in the United States, considering the risks to the inflation forecast "more or less balanced," the minutes of the Fed meeting held on March 16-17 indicated.

The dot plot of forecasts published after the meeting shows that all 18 leaders of the FOMC expect the base interest rate to remain in the current range (0-0.25%) in 2021. Four of them believe that the rate can be raised in 2022, and seven are already waiting for an increase in the rate in 2023.

Meanwhile, German factory orders rose in line with forecasts in February. According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), real (price adjusted) new orders increased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.2% in February 2021 compared with January 2021. Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing were 1.5% higher than in the previous month.