Dollar heads for best week in nine months

Dollar heads for best week in nine months

The dollar was headed for its best week since last September, while gold was on course for its worst in 15 months, after US central bank officials brought forward their projections for the first post-pandemic interest rate rise.

The dollar index, which measures the buck against major currencies, traded flat on Friday but had gained 1.5 per cent over the week in response to Fed policymakers' projections on Wednesday that interest rates would rise from record low levels in 2023, from an earlier forecast of 2024.

Gold, which often moves inversely to the dollar because the metal is priced in the US currency, traded at $1.788 an ounce on Friday morning, a decline of about 4 per cent from the start of the week.

The price of Brent crude, the international oil benchmark that is traded in dollars, also fell for a second day on Friday, losing 0.4 per cent to $72.77 a barrel.

"Because of the hawkish surprise of rate rise expectations having been brought forward, you've seen a pretty aggressive move in the dollar,“ said Keith Balmer, multi-asset portfolio manager at BMO Global Asset Management. "Most of the market was bearish on the dollar ahead of this meeting,“ he said, as traders