Dollar Edges Higher; Covid Cases Rise in Asia By Investing.com – Investing.com

Dollar Edges Higher; Covid Cases Rise in Asia By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com - The dollar edged higher in early European trade Monday, with this safe haven supported by concerns over fresh Covid-19 outbreaks in some Asian countries. However, gains are small ahead of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

At 2:55 AM ET (0755 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was up 0.1% at 90.382. 

traded 0.1% lower at 1.2130, was down 0.1% at 1.4090, just off a two-and-a-half month high as Britain reopens its economy after a four-month lockdown. was 0.1% lower at 109.30, while the risk-sensitive fell 0.3% to 0.7753.

India has been hit very hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, as a new strain of the virus first found there fueled a surge in infections that has risen to more than 400,000 daily.

Although it reported a decline in new coronavirus cases on Monday, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan was quoted as saying in the Hindu newspaper that “there are still many parts of the country which have not yet experienced the peak.”

Adding to this, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan have both announced new restrictive measures