The dollar hit a three-week high on the yen in early Asian Market trading today and was firm across the board after some strong U.S. services data and cautious optimism on the tariff front. President Donald Trump said not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks, which helped the dollar and the mood on Wall Street overnight by soothing some fears about a slowdown in U.S growth. A strong services component in S&P Global\'s flash U.S. PMI figures pushed up U.S. yields and coincided with weakness in Japan, where services and manufacturing were both in contraction. In some of the major currencies today, the dollar jumped 0.9%, pulling over 150 yen, then rose a little further to a three-week high of 150.92 yen. The dollar also hit its strongest since March 6 at $1.0781 per euro, as a powerful rally in the common currency loses steam. It was last trading at $1.0796, while sterling hit a two-week low of $1.2883 before steadying at $1.2918. The U.S. dollar index notched a fourth straight session of gains to settle at 104.30. The view that tariffs are unambiguously bullish USD has been challenged by the price action in 2025, and so even when we get the information on what tariffs look like next week, it will be hard to know what we are supposed to do. It seems like nobody knows what to do with the USD. The Indian rupee opened stronger with a gap of almost 05 paise at 85.59/60 against its previous session’s close of 85.64/65 and is expected to trade between 85.50 – 85.90 band today.
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