Dollar Maintains Strength as Aussie And Bitcoin Sell-Off

The dollar is set for its best weekly performance in a month against other major currencies on Friday, as the global reserve currency maintained its strength amid a sell-off of riskier assets in the markets.

Investor sentiment has been affected in recent days by weak economic data, spreading inflation and concerns about the pace of the US Federal Reserve’s tightening of monetary policy.

Stock markets in Europe opened lower in morning trading, tracking trading in Asia and on Wall Street overnight.

The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six major currencies, fell 0.1 percent on the day to 95.655, but it is on track to achieve a 0.5 percent weekly increase, its best performance since mid-December.

Currencies considered risky, including the Australian and New Zealand dollars, declined, while currencies seen as safe havens such as the Japanese yen and Swiss franc rose.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars both fell more than 0.5 percent against the dollar, and were last at $0.71860 and $0.67100.

Bitcoin fell 6 percent to $38,250, its lowest since August.

The Swiss franc rose 0.4 percent to 0.91350 francs per dollar, while the yen rose 0.4 percent to 113.625 yen per dollar. The yen was last up 0.1 percent after losing some momentum.

The pound fell 0.2 percent against the dollar to 1.35635 dollars, and 0.5 percent against the euro, to 83.61 pence per euro.