© Reuters. US $ 100 bills and 10,000 yen bills in Tokyo, with a photo from the Reuters archive.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – It rose on Monday amid deteriorating sentiment after China said it was sticking to its strict coronavirus limits, thwarting hopes of the imminent reopening of the world’s second largest economy which had previously experienced a massive rebound of risky assets.
China said over the weekend that it would continue its rigorous approach to handling COVID-19 cases as they arose, which gave little indication that it would relax its strategy to achieve “Covid Zero” nearly three years. after the outbreak of the pandemic.
The dollar rose 0.9 versus overseas to reach 7.237 at the start of Asian trade, and the Australian and New Zealand dollar, which are risk-sensitive currencies, were among the biggest losers as they both fell nearly l ‘one percent.
The Australian dollar fell 0.66% to $ 0.6427, while the New Zealand dollar fell 0.7% to $ 0.5887.
The two currencies benefited greatly from Friday’s big rally, up nearly 3% as speculation that China could end its coronavirus restrictions gained ground and increased risk appetite.
On the other hand, the pound fell 0.42% to $ 1.1324, and also 0.3% to $ 0.9930, to retreat from its nearly 2% rise on Friday.
“Any rally in the Australian dollar and other currencies is likely to be short-lived as China remains very committed to its (tough) approach to the coronavirus outbreak,” said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The dollar also rose against 0.26 percent to 147.05.
The US dollar stood at 111.09 against a basket of currencies.
(Prepared by Hassan Ammar for the Arabic newsletter)
