The euro is on its way to the largest weekly rise in 6 weeks

The euro fell on Friday but was on track for its biggest weekly gain in six weeks as traders breathed a sigh of relief after Russia avoided defaulting on dollar-denominated debt and markets digested the broader impact of the start of the US interest rate hike cycle.

The euro slipped to $1.10 despite the broad dollar losses and upbeat comments from European policymakers that supported the euro. Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knott said he expects to raise interest rates only once this year.

The euro was down 0.5% at $1.1037 on Friday, but the single currency was up 1.52% for the week and on track for its biggest weekly gain since the first week of February when European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde first indicated that interest rates would rise in the eurozone in 2022.

As for the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six major currencies, it caught its breath on Friday and rose by 0.4 percent to 98.36 after declining daily this week, and it was on its way to a loss of one percent during this period. It fell to 97.724 on Thursday for the first time since March 10.

The Japanese yen remained near a six-year low after the Bank of Japan kept its super accommodative policy unchanged on Friday, as widely expected, bucking the trend of developed world central banks exiting emergency measures over the coronavirus pandemic.

Cryptocurrencies were broadly stable, with Bitcoin down 1.5 percent and Ether down 1 percent.