©Reuters. A bank employee counts US dollar bills in Hanoi – Photo from the Reuters Archive.
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – The dollar rose against most major currencies during volatile trading on Friday, following a rise in Treasury yields after U.S. data showed a slowing in a one-measure increase in the inflation, but it probably won’t be enough to stop the US central bank from keeping interest rates higher.
The personal consumption spending price index rose 0.1% last month, after rising 0.4% in October. In the 12 months to November, that index rose 5.5%, after rising 6.1% in October.
Excluding food and energy price volatility, the personal consumption expenditure price index rose by 0.2% after a 0.3% increase in October. The so-called core personal consumption spending price index rose 4.7% year-on-year in November, after rising 5% in October. The US central bank tracks the price indices of personal consumption spending in order to make monetary policy decisions.
The dollar was up midday trading 0.5% against the yen at 133 yen. But the Japanese currency is on track to post a weekly decline of 2.7% after the Bank of Japan revised its basic bond market policy this week.
It saw little change against the dollar, registering $1.0598. Conversely, the dollar rose by 0.1% to 0.9235 francs.
In a challenging year for global markets, the dollar soared nearly 9% as the US central bank sharply raised interest rates to curb inflation, attracting investors back to the country’s fixed-income assets.
But it’s down more than 8% from its 20-year high in September after a sharp slowdown in US inflation raised hopes the central bank would soon end its tightening cycle.
The dollar index rose 0.1% on Friday to register at 104.42.
(Prepared by Salma Najm for the Arab Bulletin – Edited by Mostafa Saleh)
