RTRS: Dollar index touches one year high as euro drops
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The ICE Futures US dollar index touched a one-year high of 80.643 as the euro dropped on comments from ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet that inflation risks in the euro zone have diminished.
Trichet was speaking after the European Central Bank held its benchmark rate steady at 4.25 percent.
"What the market has seized on is his comment that upside risks to price stability have diminished. The euro started to move once that came out," said Stephen Malyon, senior currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto. "He's becoming somewhat less hawkish or more dovish. The market is taking this as a sign that rate cuts could be forthcoming."
The dollar index was last at 80.620 .DXY, up 1.1 percent. The euro was last down 1.7 percent at $1.3780.
(Reporting by Nick Olivari and Wenfang Zhou, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
