The dollar fell on Wednesday to a 2-week low against the basket of currencies on hopes of interest rate hike, despite weak inflation. The Federal Reserve meeting put a major impact on the greenback, which came down from its 10-week high on Friday when the payroll report showed that employers have cut jobs.
Investors were also interested in US President Donald Trump, who could hurt his plans for tax reform because of a dispute with Senator Bob Cocker, a Republican whose voice is likely to be needed by Trump. The dollar index, which measures the price of the US currency against a basket of 6 currencies, lost 0.38% of its value and reached 92.94 points, the lowest since September 26 this year.
The single currency, Euro, was backed by expectations that the European Central Bank will announce its 2.3 billion-dollar bond purchase program. Any additional increase in the euro is expected to be limited, as the European currency has soared to over 12% so far, say analysts. The euro reached a 2-week high of 1.1864 dollars. The last peak was at 1.1863, which is 0.48% higher than Tuesday.
Oil prices rose for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, as OPEC said the market is gradually tightening after years of oversupply, although analysts say the outlook for 2018 is less secure. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures ended Wednesday’s session with a 38 cents increase to 51.30 dollars a barrel. Together Tuesday, the growth rate is 2%. The international oil price benchmark, the Brent variety, rose 20 cents to 56.81 dollars a barrel. The Brent variety closed 2% more than the previous day.
For precious metals, gold increased its price by 0.33% to $1291.70 an ounce. Gold is heavily sensitive to rising interest rates as it increases the ability to hold valuable bullions as the dollar rises. Precious metal was trading mixed after the leader of Catalonia gave up the official declaration of independence from Spain, news that sent the euro up and the green currency down. For other precious metals, silver rose from 0.81% to $17,216 an ounce after reaching a 3-week high in the previous session. Platinum reached a price of $933.40 per ounce after a 0.47% increase.
