TOKYO — The dollar touched a six-week low on Tuesday on signs of fragility in the US economy because of damage from the trade war President Donald Trump’s administration is waging.
While global equity markets have broadly recovered in the wake of the on-again, off-again saga of Trump’s tariff threats, the greenback remains firmly on its back. Factory and jobs data in the United States in the coming days may give further signs of the toll that trade uncertainty is wreaking on the world’s biggest economy.
US duties on imported steel and aluminum are set to double to 50 percent starting on Wednesday, the same day the Trump administration expects countries to submit their best offers in trade negotiations.
“What this whole dynamic is basically saying is trade tensions are not really improving in that regard, and we’ve seen the dollar getting hammered widely,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank. “Interestingly, the Aussie and the kiwi have been the good performers this time around.”
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six major peers, touched 98.58, the lowest since late April, before rebounding 0.3 percent. The greenback rallied 0.3 percent to 143.21 yen.
The euro slid 0.2 percent after briefly touching a six-week high of $1.1454. Later in the week, the focus will be on the European Central Bank’s interest rate decision and subsequent outlook.
New Zealand’s kiwi reached $0.6054, a new high for the year, before retreating 0.4 percent.
The dollar index sank 0.8 percent on Monday after data showed US manufacturing contracted for a third month in May and tariff snarls meant suppliers took longer to deliver goods. Attention now turns to US factory order numbers on Tuesday, along with jobs figures due later in the week.
