Business: US dollar continues post-Fed rate rise slide, Asian stocks mixed

The US dollar continued its slide in the wake of last week’s widely expected decision by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, while Asian stocks were mixed.

The US dollar index remains the focal point for markets, extending its losing streak to a fourth session during Asian trading, which is on track to be its longest losing run since early November, just before the US presidential election.

The dollar index, a measure of the US currency against a basket of global peers, was off 0.1 per cent to 100.17 today, after dropping 0.9 per cent last week for its largest weekly fall since mid-January.

The yen was 0.2 per cent stronger at ¥112.53 per dollar despite its home market being shut for a holiday, and was facing a fifth consecutive session of gains.

The Australian dollar was up 0.2 per cent at $0.7719 at its highest level since early November.

Singapore’s Straits Times index was off 0.5 per cent, weighed down by banks and the energy sector. Over the weekend, Ezra Holdings, a Singapore-listed oilfield services company filed for bankruptcy in the US, and counts Singaporean banks DBS and Oversea-China Banking Corporation among its biggest lenders.

The Hang Seng hit its highest level since August 2015, leaving the Hong Kong benchmark up 11.1 per cent so far in 2017. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, is up 12.5 per cent, making the pair some of the best-performing indices in the world this year.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.5 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite was flat. The Japanese market was closed for a public holiday.

Gold rallied as the US dollar weakened, and sat 0.4 per cent firmer at $1,234.31 an ounce in Asia. Oil prices remained under pressure, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, down 0.6 per cent at $51.46 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate off 0.8 per cent at $48.39.