* Commodity-linked Aussie and kiwi ease from near one-week
highs
* Bitcoin climbs 12% this week, eyes record above $58,000
* Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
(Adds comments; updates prices)
By Kevin Buckland and Sagarika Jaisinghani
TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar climbed from a
near one-week low on Friday as bond yields inched higher, but it
looked set for its first weekly fall in three against a basket
of its major rivals as riskier currencies drew support from
calmer market sentiment.
The dollar index against six major currencies rose 0.2% to
91.58 after hitting 91.364 overnight for the first time
since March 4. It has dropped around 0.6% this week, retreating
from a more-than-three-month high reached on Tuesday.
The euro traded at about $1.1965, holding firm after
the European Central Bank, as widely expected, said on Thursday
it would accelerate its emergency bond purchases over the next
quarter.
The dollar index has firmed more than 1.6% this year as it
tracked benchmark 10-year Treasury yields from below
1% to as high as 1.625% at the end of last week. On Friday, the
yield stood at around 1.55%.
Focus next week will be on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy
meeting after Chair Jerome Powell refrained from raising
concerns about higher bond yields earlier this month.
"The real dollar story still awaits the Fed to play its
card," said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at
Axi.
"Will the Fed continue to walk the dovish talk? Or will it
walk back from its dovish commitments when and if it becomes
clear that the fiscal- and vaccine-led recovery is kicking into
full gear? It is the line that separates the dollar bulls from
bears over the next 6-to-12 months."
The safe-harbour Swiss franc eased to 0.9267 against
the dollar after sliding to over a seven-month low earlier this
week, while the yen fell 0.2% to 108.71.
The Bank of Japan may tweak a three-tier deposit system at
next week's policy review to exempt a larger portion of reserves
from negative interest rates, sources told Reuters.
The commodity-linked Australian and New Zealand dollars
retreated from near one-week highs, but were still on track to
post their first weekly gains in three as improving economic
data lifted metals prices.
The Aussie traded at $0.77780 after hitting its
highest since March 4 overnight. New Zealand's kiwi
changed hands at $0.7215 having climbed to near a one-week high
of $0.7240 overnight.
The oil-linked Canadian dollar was slightly lower at
C$1.25 after rising for three straight sessions.
Cryptocurrency bitcoin last traded at $57,150.49,
up more than 12% for the week. It topped $58,000 earlier on
Friday, approaching a record high of $58,354.14 hit on Feb. 21.
========================================================
Currency bid prices at 0403 GMT
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar $1.1962 $1.1986 -0.19% +0.00% +1.1989 +1.1960
Dollar/Yen 108.7000 108.4150 +0.22% +0.00% +108.7750 +108.6500
Euro/Yen 130.03 130.02 +0.01% +0.00% +130.2800 +130.0200
Dollar/Swiss 0.9265 0.9247 +0.20% +0.00% +0.9267 +0.9247
Sterling/Dollar 1.3975 1.3994 -0.13% +0.00% +1.4004 +1.3973
Dollar/Canadian 1.2543 1.2536 +0.09% -1.47% +1.2550 +1.2527
Aussie/Dollar 0.7781 0.7787 -0.07% +1.16% +0.7800 +0.7771
NZ 0.7215 0.7227 -0.15% +0.49% +0.7232 +0.7211
Dollar/Dollar All spots
Tokyo spots
Europe spots
Volatilities
Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo and Sagarika Jaisinghani
in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes & Shri Navaratnam)
.Source
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