By: Barbara Zigan
Investors’ concerns about the possibility of new and more stringent U.S. bank regulation was temporarily put to rest prompting U.S. dollar buying in Asia. Last week, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) charged Goldman Sachs with investor fraud for non-disclosure of the terms of one of their products, but to date, no further charges have been forthcoming. As a result, investor attention has shifted back to U.S. interest rate speculation given the improvement in the U.S. economy. As reported at 1:50 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the U.S. currency’s strength versus a weighted group of currencies, edged up to 81.141 .DXY, off of last night’s 81.029 .DXY trade in New York.
The Canadian Dollar, meanwhile, touched on a new 22-month peak against the U.S. Dollar; yesterday, the Bank of Canada withdrew its quarterly conditional guarantee, suggesting that an interest rate increase will likely be forthcoming by June. The Canadian Dollar rose .5% against the U.S. Dollar to C$0.9931, the highest trade since mid-2008. The Canadian Dollar also rose against the Japanese Yen, trading up .3% to 93.62 Yen; since late February, the Canadian Dollar has risen nearly 11% against the Yen.