2020.10.2821:16:00UTC+00Dollar Stays Firm Against Peers

The U.S. dollar stayed firm against its peers on Wednesday on safe-haven appeal amid reports showing record spikes in coronavirus cases and the move by several governments to impose tougher restrictions to curb the virus spread. Uncertainty about outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, and stalled stimulus talks hurt riskier currencies, and aided the greenback's uptick. The dollar index rose to 94.65 early on in the day, and despite paring some gains as the session progressed, was still up in positive territory at 93.43 with a fairly strong gain of 0.53%. Against the Euro, the dollar firmed up to $1.1718 before easing to $1.1749, still up 0.4% from previous close. The Pound Sterling was weaker, fetching $1.2984, compared to $1.3046 Tuesday evening. The Yen was slightly up at 104.33 a dollar, gaining from 104.42. With the AUD-USD pair was trading at 0.7043, the Aussie is weaker by more than 1.2% against the greenback. The Swiss franc was weaker with a dollar fetching CHF0.9104, about 0.2% more than previous close, while the Loonie was at 1.3322 a dollar, down more than 1%. The loonie weakened after the Bank of Canada left its interest rate unchanged at 0.25% and recalibrated the QE program to conduct purchases of longer-term bonds. The bank said total purchases will be gradually reduced to at least C$4 billion a week and that it will continue the QE program until the recovery is well underway.