Dollar gives up 4-week high on risk aversion

The US dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, deepening its losses for the second straight day, and giving up its 4-week high on profit-taking and risk aversion due to mounting concerns about the spread of a SARS-like virus in China.

The dollar index fell by 0.15% to 97.46 points, after it opened at 97.63, and hit an intraday high of 97.66.

The greenback lost 0.1% yesterday, and posted its first daily loss in 3 days, on profit-taking from a 4-week high of 97.73.

Alongside profit-taking, the dollar fell as the US markets were closed in observance of the Martin Luther King’s Day.

Investors eschewed the risky high-yield assets due to mounting concerns about the spread of a SARS-like virus in China.

The Chinese authorities announced today, the fourth death from the new coronavirus, with increasing number of infected people, which comes as hundreds of millions of Chinese are preparing to make trips around the world on the Lunar New Year holiday.

Most global stock markets also fell today, due to mounting concerns over the spread of the new virus, which is similar to the outbreak of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002/03, which had resulted in the killing of more than 800 people in most of the world.