THE dollar appreciated by 0.36% to 97.631 following a confluence of factors such as the dovish ECB meeting; higher demand for safe-haven assets as optimism in the US-China trade talks was offset by another round of Brexit saga; and better-than-expected flash PMI data with the October Markit manufacturing PMI preliminary estimate rising to 51.5 points from 51.1 points in September and beating market expectation of 50.7.
The euro depreciated by 0.56% to 1.110 after the ECB monetary meeting ended with an overall dovish tone. This was Draghi’s last meeting. As expected, the ECB kept interest rate at 0% and deposit rate at -0.50%. The meeting was short on forward guidance, but the ECB still see the need for highly accommodative policy amid weak growth, muted underlying inflation and low inflation expectations.