Dollar Falls as Vaccine Optimism Undermines Demand For Safe Havens

The dollar fell in Asia on Wednesday (December 9th), as signs of progress in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic undermined demand for safe assets, while the pound was facing anxious anticipation ahead of a meeting of leaders seeking to salvage a trade deal of Brexit

The US currency fell against most of the major counterparts as Britain launched a large-scale vaccination campaign against the Coronavirus and the United States moved closer to providing more fiscal stimulus. The US dollar fell about 0.4 percent against the risk-sensitive Australian dollar, and fell to its lowest level in two and a half years against the yuan.

The sterling settled above the lows recorded recently before a dinner scheduled for today between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, which is considered a last attempt to conclude a trade agreement to leave Britain from the European Union.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar fell 0.1% to 90.816, separating it less than 0.5% above the two-and-a-half-year low it reached on Friday.

The dollar fell about 0.2% against the euro to $ 1.2126, and is heading towards an annual loss of more than 7.5% against the single European currency, the largest since 2017.

The dollar fell to 6.4975 yen in foreign trade and 6.5229 in internal trading, which puts the yuan at a rise of more than 10% from lows recorded in May, supported by the decline of the dollar and the entry of regular flows of Chinese stocks and bonds.

The pound, which suffered heavy losses in light of the crisis in trade negotiations, stabilized against the declining dollar but remains in a state of anxiety as the two leaders approach the meeting.