Dollar Declining And Heading For Weekly losses. AUD and NZD Climbing

The dollar fell in early trading in London on Friday and is heading to suffer a weekly loss against a basket of currencies, even though the stock market lost momentum as sentiment hurt from doubts about the AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19.

The dollar has lost more than 2.2% since the beginning of the month in light of improved sentiment in global markets due to the victory of Joe Biden in the US presidential election and news of developing vaccines for Covid-19, which reduced the demand for safe-haven currencies.

But sentiment has become more mixed after a number of scientists raised doubts about the success of the vaccine developed by the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

On Monday, AstraZeneca said its vaccine was 70% effective in basic trials, and could reach 90% effectiveness, to be the latest in a number of positive vaccine advertisements, which boosted investor morale.

After the Asian markets closed, the dollar was at 91.953 against a basket of currencies, down 0.1% today, and near its lowest level in three months.

The price movements in the markets were limited by the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, which will witness today a decrease in trading hours.

The Australian dollar, an indicator of risk appetite, reached its highest level in nearly three months in early London trade, rising 0.2% to 0.7375.

The New Zealand dollar, which has been posting its best monthly performance since late 2013, today rose 0.1% to 0.7019.

Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.2% to 104.03. The Chinese yuan was heading in foreign transactions for its first weekly net loss against the dollar this month.

The euro rose 0.1% to $ 1.1925, as it saw little change on negative comments from European Central Bank chief economist Philippe Lane on Thursday.

The British pound settled at $ 1.3369, as British investors were following the Brexit negotiations to gain indications of progress.

As for the Bitcoin currency, which stabilized overnight after erasing more than a week’s gains yesterday, it began to descend again in early London trading, but the pace of decline is less severe than it was in the previous session.