Dollar Falls on Prospect of Government Shutdown

The US dollar went down today as the US policy maker weren’t been able to reach an agreement about the budget and as the rally of raw materials damped demand for the US currency as a safe asset.

The US lawmakers in Congress remained divided in their view about the federal budget and that can result in the first shutdown of the US government in 15 years. The Dollar Index, tracking the greenback versus the currencies of six major trading partners of the US, tumbled to 75.009, the lowest level since December 2009. The dollar also slipped on the speculation that the Federal Reserve will trail central banks of other developed countries in raising interest rates.

At the same time commodities continues to advance and the global economy shows signs of recovery, increasing attractiveness of growth-related currencies. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of commodities rose as much as 1.1 percent. The report yesterday showed that the German industrial production rose 1.6 percent in February, while it was expected to grow by only 0.6 percent.

EUR/USD jumped from 1.4308 to 1.4476 today as of 20:28 GMT after touching 1.4474, the highest price since January 2010. GBP/USD climbed from 1.6107 to 1.6387 and reached the intraday high of 1.6427, the highest level since January 17. USD/JPY retreated to 84.70 after rising from 84.90 to 85.39.

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