Dollar firms against sterling, euro amid political uncertainties
Asian currencies slipped on Tuesday against a firmer dollar as political uncertainty in Britain and the eurozone bogged down their respective currencies - shifting focus to the greenback.
Sterling slipped after a poll showed British Prime Minister Theresa May's lead over the opposition Labour Party in upcoming elections dropped to 6 percentage points.
The euro fell on concerns over a bailout for Greece, as eurozone finance ministers failed to agree with the International Monetary Fund last week on Greek debt relief.
"A few polls in the UK highlighted what the market thought would be a soft Brexit turned out to be a hard Brexit," said Stephen Innes, a senior trader for currency broker OANDA. "This risk environment is weighing negatively on global sentiment."
The dollar index moved up 0.33 per cent as at 06;32 GMT against a basket of currencies.
"We'd expect the EUR to remain somewhat tender, imparting also some upside dollar resilience against the other majors and Asian currencies," OCBC Bank said in a note.
The South Korean won fell about 0.27 per cent against the dollar, down for a third consecutive session.
South Korea is scheduled to issue industrial output data for May on Wednesday, with a Reuters poll of 13 analysts expecting exports to have risen in May for the seventh straight month, but at a slower pace because of fewer working days.
South Korea said on Tuesday it had conducted a joint drill with a U.S. bomber following a missile test by North Korea. North Korea's leader was reported to have ordered the development of more powerful strategic weapons to defend the country against the United States.
China's yuan did not trade because of a national holiday. The offshore yuan however, lost about 0.04 per cent against the dollar on Monday after spiking up as much as 0.23 per cent.
While market participants were waiting to see how a new central bank fixing methodology will work when China opens on Wednesday after a long weekend, offshore yuan markets were quoting the currency slightly weaker at 6.8305 per dollar
China is changing how it calculates the yuan's guidance rate for the second time this year, with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System trading platform saying that a "counter-cyclical factor" would be introduced into the way it calculates the yuan's reference rate each day.
The Taiwan dollar did not trade because of a domestic holiday.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR
The Singapore dollar was down about 0.12 per cent against the dollar, extending its losses from Monday to fall to its lowest in nearly a week.
"There's a bigger relation with the RMB complex," said OANDA's Innes.
"Since the PBOC has been guiding the stronger fixes since last week, coupled with a ridiculous carry that has been imposed
on the short CNH positions, the Singapore dollar is piggybacking movements on the underlying RMB."
Sterling slipped after a poll showed British Prime Minister Theresa May's lead over the opposition Labour Party in upcoming elections dropped to 6 percentage points.
The euro fell on concerns over a bailout for Greece, as eurozone finance ministers failed to agree with the International Monetary Fund last week on Greek debt relief.
"A few polls in the UK highlighted what the market thought would be a soft Brexit turned out to be a hard Brexit," said Stephen Innes, a senior trader for currency broker OANDA. "This risk environment is weighing negatively on global sentiment."
The dollar index moved up 0.33 per cent as at 06;32 GMT against a basket of currencies.
"We'd expect the EUR to remain somewhat tender, imparting also some upside dollar resilience against the other majors and Asian currencies," OCBC Bank said in a note.
The South Korean won fell about 0.27 per cent against the dollar, down for a third consecutive session.
South Korea is scheduled to issue industrial output data for May on Wednesday, with a Reuters poll of 13 analysts expecting exports to have risen in May for the seventh straight month, but at a slower pace because of fewer working days.
South Korea said on Tuesday it had conducted a joint drill with a U.S. bomber following a missile test by North Korea. North Korea's leader was reported to have ordered the development of more powerful strategic weapons to defend the country against the United States.
China's yuan did not trade because of a national holiday. The offshore yuan however, lost about 0.04 per cent against the dollar on Monday after spiking up as much as 0.23 per cent.
While market participants were waiting to see how a new central bank fixing methodology will work when China opens on Wednesday after a long weekend, offshore yuan markets were quoting the currency slightly weaker at 6.8305 per dollar
China is changing how it calculates the yuan's guidance rate for the second time this year, with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System trading platform saying that a "counter-cyclical factor" would be introduced into the way it calculates the yuan's reference rate each day.
The Taiwan dollar did not trade because of a domestic holiday.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR
The Singapore dollar was down about 0.12 per cent against the dollar, extending its losses from Monday to fall to its lowest in nearly a week.
"There's a bigger relation with the RMB complex," said OANDA's Innes.
"Since the PBOC has been guiding the stronger fixes since last week, coupled with a ridiculous carry that has been imposed
on the short CNH positions, the Singapore dollar is piggybacking movements on the underlying RMB."