SINGAPORE: The dollar advanced for a second day against its major peers in Asian trade on Monday, supported by strong U.S. jobs data and safe-haven demand driven by a shaky U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
The euro was down 0.2% at $1.1757, the yen slipped 0.3% to 157.155 yen per dollar and the British pound was 0.3% lower at $1.3590. The risk-sensitive Australian dollar slipped 0.2% to $0.7229, while its kiwi counterpart weakened 0.3% to $0.5948.
Factors that could weigh on the dollar “have become more elusive after hawkish Fed dissents, resilient U.S. data and continued stalemate in the Middle East,” said Alex Loo, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.
The Fed held rates steady last month as expected, but the decision exposed its deepest split in decades, with three officials dissenting against signalling future rate cuts.
Oil prices jumped in Asian trade on Monday, with Brent crude up 4.5% at $105.85 a barrel, after President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected Iran’s response to a U.S. proposal for peace talks, dashing hopes for an imminent end to the 10-week-old conflict.
“I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without giving further detail.
The Chinese yuan was 0.1% firmer against the dollar at 6.7939 yuan in offshore trade, up for an eighth consecutive day as markets looked ahead to a visit to China by U.S. President Donald Trump later this week.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to discuss Iran, Taiwan, artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons and critical minerals when they meet later this week, according to U.S. officials.
Data earlier in the day showed China’s producer prices smashed expectations to hit a 45-month high in April on rising global energy costs. That followed figures released over the weekend showing China’s export growth accelerated last month as factories raced to meet AI-related demand.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.1% at 98.103. The greenback has found support from the U.S. jobs report released Friday that showed non-farm payrolls increased 115,000 in April, almost twice as fast as expected.
Those figures reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates unchanged for some time.
“The dollar remained on the back foot last week, with the market laser-focused on prospects for a gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with the breakthrough potentially coinciding with the Trump-Xi meeting,” strategists from Barclays wrote in a research report.
“That said, U.S. data remains resilient and the labour market appears to have stabilised across a number of data sets,” they added.