Asian session review: the US dollar declined against most currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar fell against the euro and the pound, but rose against 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 0.13% after rising by 1% last week - to the highest level in almost 10 months.

Risk appetite on the world markets increased slightly on the positive news from China, where the spread of the new delta strain was brought under control. This contributes to the weakening of demand for safe haven currencies, including the dollar and the Japanese yen. Nevertheless, experts believe that the dollar will remain strong in the near future, as the difficult situation with COVID-19 in many countries persists, and the pandemic still threatens the recovery of the global economy.

The focus of traders this week is the annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, where Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak. Investors will be waiting for hints from him about when the Fed intends to start curtailing the asset repurchase program.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Robert Kaplan, said ion Friday that he may reconsider his call to start curtailing the program as early as October if the situation with the pandemic worsens due to the spread of the delta strain.

Kaplan's statement shows that his attitude is not as "hawkish" as it was at the beginning of the month, experts say. This gives investors some hope that the Fed will maintain its stimulus policy for longer if the delta variant of the virus holds back economic progress.