US dollar declines after Fed’s lending program

New York, April 11 (IANS) The US dollar weakened as traders continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s latest move to mitigate the COVID-19 shock.

On Friday, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.14 per cent at 99.4853 in late trading, Xinhua news agency reported.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to US $1.0933 from 1.0923 in the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.2469 from 1.2445 in the previous session. The Australian dollar rose to US $0.6348 from 0.6318.

The US dollar bought 108.36 Japanese yen, lower than 108.48 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar was down to 0.9653 Swiss franc from 0.9668 Swiss franc, and it decreased to 1.3961 Canadian dollars from 1.4020 Canadian dollars.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced additional actions to provide up to US $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy.

“This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic,” the US central bank said in a statement.

–IANS

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