U.S DOLLAR INDEX FALLS AS COMMODITY RELATED CURRENCIES BREAK HIGHER

U.S DOLLAR INDEX FALLS

The U.S dollar slipped to its lowest trading level in over a month against a basket of currencies this week, as U.S. 10-year bond yields declined, and overall demand for greenbacks abated. The U.S dollar index slipped below the 93.00 mark by Wednesday, eventually finding weekly support around the 92.50 technical region. The greenback slipped lower against the euro, Swiss franc, British pound and Japanese yen currencies in thin market trading conditions, as year-end institutional U.S dollar demand waned.

COMMODITY CURRENCIES RISE

Commodity linked currencies moved sharply higher this week, with the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollar performing major upside technical break-outs against the greenback. The move higher was sparked by broad-based demand from Chinese investors for physical commodities, with the value of iron-ore, copper, spot gold and oil all rising. The AUDUSD pair traded above the $0.7800 level, while the USDCAD pair broke lower towards the 1.2500 level. The NZDUSD pair moved above its key 100-day moving average, keeping in-line with the theme of year-end strength for the kiwi.

RIPPLE OUTPERFORMS

The cryptocurrency Ripple moved to a new all-time price-high this week, hitting $1.41, and gaining over 20 percent in just four-days. Ripple surged higher on the news of the inception of a consortium of Japanese credit card companies, that will start to focus on using Ripple’s Blockchain technology, and study how it can aid the banking industry. The weekly increase in Ripple's value makes it the third largest digital currency, and also the top performing digital currency in 2017, gaining over twenty thousand percent.

BITCOIN RECOVERS AND FALLS

The value of Bitcoin plunged heavily again this week, after South Korean officials said they were planning to crackdown on trading in the digital currency sector. Bitcoin had started to recover former weekly trading losses, moving toward the $15,400 by mid-week, but quickly dropped towards the $13,000 level on Thursday. The cryptocurrency Bitcoin has gained over nine-hundred percent in U.S dollar terms this year, eventually hitting a record high of over $20,000 earlier this month.