News: FOREX-Dollar near 1-year high as Fed tightening in focus, Aussie climbs

• Yen set for worst month since March
• Yuan poised for monthly drop
• China markets shut from Friday for a week

The greenback hovered near a one-year high versus major peers on Thursday as expectations mounted that the Federal Reserve will taper stimulus from November, while the commodity-linked Aussie dollar benefited from a bounce in iron ore prices.

The safe-haven dollar has made sharp gains over the last two sessions on concern the Fed could withdraw economic support as global growth slows and high inflation is high. Spiking bond yields added to the currency's firmness.

Its rise is despite an impasse in Washington over the U.S. debt ceiling that threatens to plunge the government into a shutdown.

The dollar index =USD - which measures the currency against a basket of six rivals - stood at 94.327, little changed from Wednesday, when it hit 94.435 for the first time since late September last year.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note US10YT=RR stood at 1.5341%, holding near a mid-June high reached Tuesday at 1.5670%.

"A combination of higher U.S. yields, impending Fed tapering and skittish markets around the debt ceiling have fuelled this move (in the dollar)," Westpac analysts wrote in a client note.

The issue of whether to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would probably extend to mid-October, beyond which, the dollar will likely be supported by money markets pricing in rate hikes, they added.

The dollar bought 111.97 yen JPY=EBS , little changed from Wednesday, when it reached 112.05 for the first time since February 2020. It was on track for its worst monthly performance since March.

The euro EUR=EBS was mostly flat at $1.15995, holding near Wednesday's 14-month low of $1.15895

Speaking at a European Central Bank forum on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, ECB President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said they were monitoring inflation after a surge in energy prices and production bottlenecks.

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 firmed 0.5% to $0.7206, after plummeting 0.9% overnight, as iron ore prices rallied ahead of the Golden Week holiday in Australia's top trading destination China.

A rebound in monthly Chinese services data also "looks to have gone some way to allaying fears that the evident slowdown in China growth of late is accelerating to the downside," buoying the Aussie, said Ray Attrill, NAB's head of FX strategy.

Sterling GBP=D3 edged up 0.1% to $1.34357 but remained near the nine-month low of $1.3412 reached overnight on concerns about soaring natural gas prices and almost a week of petrol shortages in Britain.

A slight improvement in overall risk sentiment after days of gloom was seen in the cryptocurrency markets, as bitcoin BTC=BTSP rose 5% to $43,567 and ether ETH=BTSP bounced 6.4% to $3,034.09.

Both coins are down between 20%-27% from their September peaks.

======================================================== 
	Currency bid prices at 0609 GMT 

 Description	  RIC		 Last		   U.S. Close  Pct Change	 YTD Pct	 High Bid	Low Bid 
											  Previous				   Change				  
											  Session											
 Euro/Dollar	   EUR=EBS	!RIC		   !RIC		!RIC		   !RIC		!RIC		!RIC 
							  {EUR=EBS} is   {EUR=EBS}   {EUR=EBS} is   {EUR=EBS}   {EUR=EBS}   {EUR=EBS} 
							  invalid		is invalid  invalid%	   is		  is invalid  is invalid 
																		invalid%				 
 Dollar/Yen		JPY=EBS	111.9000	   111.9700	-0.04%		 +8.36%	  +111.9720   +111.8400 
 Euro/Yen		 																			 
 Dollar/Swiss	  CHF=EBS	!RIC		   !RIC		!RIC		   !RIC		!RIC		!RIC 
							  {CHF=EBS} is   {CHF=EBS}   {CHF=EBS} is   {CHF=EBS}   {CHF=EBS}   {CHF=EBS} 
							  invalid		is invalid  invalid%	   is		  is invalid  is invalid 
																		invalid%				 
 Sterling/Dollar   GBP=D3	 1.3441		 1.3427	  +0.10%		 -1.62%	  +1.3458	 +1.3426 
 Dollar/Canadian   CAD=D3	 1.2732		 1.2753	  -0.14%		 +0.01%	  +1.2762	 +1.2727 
 Aussie/Dollar	 AUD=D3	 0.7203		 0.7174	  +0.42%		 -6.35%	  +0.7208	 +0.7176 
 NZ				NZD=D3	 0.6876		 0.6866	  +0.09%		 -4.30%	  +0.6886	 +0.6866 
 Dollar/Dollar																				   

All spots FX= Tokyo spots AFX= Europe spots EFX= Volatilities FXVOL= Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ TKYFX

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World FX rates	https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E 

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