* Dollar holds gains after hitting one-week low last week
* Euro flat after posting first weekly gain in three
* Focus on Federal Reserve, BoJ meetings this week
* Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
(Adds analyst comment; updates prices)
By Kevin Buckland and Sagarika Jaisinghani
TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar held firm on
Monday after bouncing off a one-week low last week, supported by
a spike in benchmark Treasury yields to more-than-one-year highs
as inflation fears continued to smoulder.
Bitcoin hovered around $60,000 after surging to a
record high of $61,781.83 over the weekend. Reuters reported on
Monday that India will push ahead on a proposal to ban
cryptocurrencies, in a potential blow to millions of investors
piling into the red-hot asset class.
The greenback rose 0.1% against the yen to 109.125 yen
, drifting near its highest since June 2020. The euro was
largely flat at $1.19485 after rising last week for the
first time in three weeks.
Market participants have grown wary in recent weeks that
massive fiscal stimulus and pent-up consumer demand could lead
to a jump in inflation as expanding vaccination campaigns bring
an end to lockdowns.
"The base scenario is that you see the economic recovery
continuing and the vaccine roll-out keeps going and the
infection situation improves," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief
currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.
"Both the dollar and Treasury yields are on the uptrend and
there's no big change in that view. The dollar is especially
likely to firm against the yen and the euro in the near term,
but it doesn't strengthen necessarily against the commodity
currencies because commodity prices are rising."
U.S. producer prices had their biggest annual gain in nearly
2-1/2 years, data showed on Friday, while the country's economy
is set to get a massive shot in the arm from President Joe
Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
Focus this week will be on the U.S. Federal Reserve's
two-day policy meeting although expectations are running low for
the central bank to announce major policy changes. The Bank of
Japan is also set to hold its policy meeting later in the week.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency
against six major peers, held around 91.697 in Monday's Asia
session after climbing from near a one-week low of 91.364 at the
end of last week.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were at
1.6320% on Monday, close to Friday's top of 1.6420%.
The greenback has also been supported by a paring of bets
for its decline, with speculators cutting net short positions to
the lowest since mid-November in the week ended March 9.
The Australian dollar - viewed widely as a liquid
proxy for risk appetite - fell 0.2% to $0.77465, extending
Friday's 0.4% loss.
The Canadian dollar was largely flat, after earlier
strengthening to C$1.2455 for the first time in three years. On
Friday, a bigger-than-expected domestic jobs gain supported the
view that the Bank of Canada would reduce quantitative easing
purchases next month.
Bitcoin was up about 2% at $60,205.56 after more than
doubling in value this year.
India's potential ban on cryptocurrencies comes just as
bitcoin and its rivals gained credibility following endorsements
from big investors such as BlackRock Inc and corporate
leaders including Tesla Inc's Elon Musk and Twitter
Inc's Jack Dorsey.
========================================================
Currency bid prices at 0340 GMT
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar $1.1953 $1.1953 -0.01% -2.18% +1.1968 +1.1943
Dollar/Yen 109.1250 109.0200 +0.14% +5.69% +109.1900 +108.9300
Euro/Yen 130.43 130.29 +0.11% +2.77% +130.4500 +130.2800
Dollar/Swiss 0.9290 0.9296 -0.04% +5.04% +0.9298 +0.9278
Sterling/Dollar 1.3926 1.3970 -0.32% +1.93% +1.3948 +1.3919
Dollar/Canadian 1.2476 1.2475 +0.05% -1.99% +1.2480 +1.2455
Aussie/Dollar 0.7748 0.7758 -0.14% +0.71% +0.7775 +0.7744
NZ 0.7198 0.7177 +0.29% +0.24% +0.7216 +0.7180
Dollar/Dollar All spots
Tokyo spots
Europe spots
Volatilities
Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo and Sagarika Jaisinghani
in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
