Dollar rises on new Fed lending program

The dollar rose against Asian currencies on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a new lending program.

However, the dollar faced strong headwinds following the release of U.S. retail sales and industry data which revealed the economic damage caused by the pandemic.  

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday night that he was aiming to reopen the country by the start of May as the daily death toll declined. However, investors remain cautious after the president’s top infectious diseases advisor, Anthony Fauci said that the reopening was “overly optimistic”. 

The U.S. Dollar Index fell by 0.03% to 98.91 at 11:21 PM ET (4:21 AM GMT).

In Asia, the Japanese Yen fell against the dollar by 0.07% to 107.12. Meanwhile, the Chinese Yuan rose by 0.11% to 7.0525 per dollar.

In Europe, the British Pound Sterling slipped by 0.12% to 1.2607 per dollar.

Down Under, the Australian dollar fell by 0.43% to 0.6412 while the New Zealand dollar dipped by 0.48% to 0.6075.