NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. dollar held steady against a basket of currencies on Monday, hovering near a six-month high as traders looked ahead to interest rate decisions this week from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.
Currency moves were largely muted on Monday as investors were hesitant to make big directional wagers ahead of the week’s slew of central bank interest rate decisions.
“The plethora of event risk and central bank meetings coming up is keeping a lid on volatility, and with traders really not wanting to chase moves or take on significant risk before the FOMC, BoE, BoJ, etc.,” Michael Brown, market analyst at Trader X, said.
The U.S. dollar index – which measures the currency against six major counterparts – was about flat at 105.25, not far from the six-month high of 105.43 touched on Thursday. The index rose for its ninth straight week last week, its longest winning streak in nearly a decade.
Resilient U.S. growth has fueled a rebound in the dollar in recent weeks though the rally will likely be tested by a gauntlet of data and Wednesday’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision.