Dollar and other currency rates today int market- Nov 28, 2024

NEW YORK/LONDON: The Euro (EUR) rallied against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday as French government bonds stabilized a day after the collapse of the French government, while bitcoin galloped to a record past $100,000, as investors cheered the nomination of a pro-cryptocurrency head to run the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Despite Thursday’s gains, the euro was on track to post a loss this week, the fourth in the last five weeks.

French President Emmanuel Macron met allies and parliament leaders on Thursday as he sought to swiftly appoint a new prime minister to replace Michel Barnier, who officially resigned a day after opposition lawmakers voted to outs his government.

That is not an easy task, according to Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist, at Scotiabank in Toronto.

“For now, local bonds have stabilized — outperforming OATs have closed the yield gap over 10-year Bunds — helping give the euro a modest boost,” he wrote in a research note, referring to French bonds.

The spread between French and German 10-year yields narrowed on Thursday to 77.2 basis points (bps) , the tighest gap since Nov.22.

He added that the positive short-term price action on Wednesday coupled with moderate gains through the low $1.05s on Thursday, have given “the euro a shot at extending a little higher to test key resistance and potential bull trigger at $1.0590.”

Meawnhile, bitcoin, the world’s best known cryptocurrency, has been on a tear since November on expectations that Donald Trump’s U.S. election win will usher in a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.

It rose to an all-time high of $103,649 in Asian hours, boosted in part by President-elect Trump’s nomination of pro-crypto Paul Atkins to run the SEC. It was last up 4% at 101,523 , taking its year-to-date gains to more than 140%.

“With a better U.S. regulatory environment and next-generation stablecoins driving adoption in Europe, we believe bitcoin and the broader crypto market could continue to go from strength to strength,” wrote Arnoud Star Busmann, chief executive of Quantoz Payments, a Netherlands-based payments technology company.

EURO ON THE MEND

Traders are all but certain the European Central Bank will cut rates next week and are pricing in around 157 basis points of easing by the end of 2025.

In Asia, the Japanese yen rose as high as 149.66 per dollar but was last up 0.3% at 150.18 as traders pondered whether the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates later this month.

Expectations had been growing that the BOJ will hike rates at its Dec. 18-19 meeting, buoyed by comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda. But media reports published on Wednesday suggested the BOJ may skip a rate hike this month, muddling those wagers.

The won was last down 0.2% at 1,416 per U.S. dollar.

The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, fell 0.5% to 105.83.