U.S Dollar losses limited by hawkish Fed minutes

The U.S Dollar lost ground on Fridays, the decline was limited by a hawkish Fed minutes meeting that confirmed expectations of another hike this year and various hikes next year.

Both the Euro and British pound managed to hold steady, despite analysts expecting those currencies to be sensitive to news regarding Brexit negotiations and a notorious Italian budget proposal.

The U.S Dollar index decline versus a basket of six major currencies on Friday to end the session at 95.74.

Over in Europe, The Euro traded regained lost ground against the greenback on Friday’s session to close at 1.15123 EURUSD.

The European Commission on Thursday sent Rome a letter saying the draft budget sent by is an “unprecedented” breach of EU fiscal rules.

The government in Italy has until Monday to clarify to the Commission regarding its breach of rules and faces the rejection of its budget, which could end up with sanctions.

Additionally, the European Union critique of Italy’s spending plans resulted in adding fresh concerns about a conflict within the single currency zone.

In the economic space, Euro zone money markets are now not fully pricing in an interest rate rise from the ECB until October 2019. Earlier this week, they were projecting an increase next September.

Over in the United Kingdom, the Great British Pound also firemd against the U.S Dollar to end the trading session at 1.30647, the cable after Bloomberg News reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May is ready to drop a key Brexit demand in order to make a deal for Britain to leave the European Union (EU).

Meanwhile, On Sunday, UK Brexit minister Dominic Raab said that Britain is open-minded about prolonging the post-Brexit transition period if it means the European Union drops its proposals for the so-called Irish backstop.

In terms of Safe-havens, the greenback advanced against the Japanese yen to close the session at 112.505 USDJPY, the U.S Dollar was nearly unchanged versus to finish the session 0.9953 USDCHF.

The precious metal Gold traded at constant levels against the greenback to close at 1225.98 XAUUSD per ounce.

In terms of commodity-currencies, the greenback edged up against the loonie to end the session at 1.3098 USDCAD, weighed down by weaker inflation and retail sales, although market participants expect the Bank of Canada (BoC) to raise interest rates on Oct. 24.

In Australia, the Aussie rose against the Greenback to close the session at 0.7114. While the Kiwi dollar also firmed against its U.S counterpart to end the session up at 0.6586.

In Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin were all trading at nearly unchanged levels against the Greenback to settle at 6356.51 BTCUSD, 197.21 ETHUSD, and 51.01 LTCUSD.