Dollar to new 20-year high after Putin and before the Fed | Photo credits: Pixabay
by Dhara Ranasinghe
LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) – The dollar hit a new 20-year high against a basket of benchmark currencies on Wednesday amid concerns over news of Russian reservists and a massive probable further sharp rise in interest rates in the United States.
The greenback gained in session 0.5% to 110.87 points against other major currencies, its highest level since 2002, before reducing its gains to 0.354% around 10:50 GMT.
The euro, for its part, fell in session to a two-week low at $0.9885, approaching its 20-year low hit at the start of the month, before returning to $0.9924.
The pound sterling fell during the session to a new low of 37 years, at 1.1304 dollars. It is now trading at $1.1344.
In a very martial address to the Nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that he had signed a partial mobilization decree concerning some 300,000 reservists, in order to be able to fulfill the objectives of his “special military operation” in Ukraine, which he has assured that they had not changed.
Regarding the Fed, while a monetary policy statement is expected at 6:00 p.m. GMT, the markets are widely expecting a three-quarters of a point increase in rates from the US central bank. (Report Dhara Ranasinghe, with Bansari Mayur Kamdar, French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)