New York: The US dollar clawed back gains in the week’s last trading day, as the greenback’s safe-haven demands rose amid steep sell-off in equities and a possible US government shutdown.
US stocks nosedived on Friday, as the Nasdaq fell into a bear market and the Dow suffered the worst weekly decline over the past decade, wrapping up their worst week since August 2011.
In late New York trading on Friday, the euro fell to $1.1371 from $1.1469 in the previous session, and the British pound was down to $1.2634 from $1.2670 in the previous session, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Australian dollar was down to $0.7046 from $0.7118.
The US dollar bought 111.29 Japanese yen, higher than 111.11 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar was up to 0.9948 Swiss franc from 0.9869 Swiss franc, and it rose to 1.3589 Canadian dollars from 1.3496 Canadian dollars.
The deep plunge in stocks spurred risk aversion among yield-seeking investors, who remain more cautious about riskier assets purchase, especially at a time when the approaching Christmas and New Year holidays slacken liquidity.
The latest bipartisan wrestling over a government spending bill in the US also increased market unease.
US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday that a partial government shutdown would “last for a very long time,” if Democrats in the Senate don’t vote for the funding of over $5 billion for a US-Mexico border wall.
[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]