Dollar Falls Over Growing Hopes on COVID-19 Vaccine

The dollar fell on Tuesday morning in Asia’s forex exchange. News on Monday reported that a COVID-19 vaccine could become available relatively soon. This has raised optimism over global economic recovery.

By 10:23 PM ET or 2:23 AM GMT, the US Dollar Index declined 0.22% to 92.632. This Index tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies.

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc’s vaccine candidate is being developed in partnership with Germany’s BioNTech. The company said it is more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19. This claim was based on data from the first 94 virus infections in Pfizer’s large-scale clinical trial.

The number of global COVID-19 cases exceeded the 50.8 million mark on Nov. 10. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, over 10 million cases were in the U.S. alone. The news raised hopes that a COVID-19 cure could soon become available.

Some investors have cautioned against taking the vaccine too soon. Questions about the vaccine’s efficacy and the length of immunity it will provide are still to be answered.

Currencies’ Movements

The USD/JPY pair fell 0.44% to 104.90. The yen regained some of its losses against the greenback since its biggest loss in March during the previous session. 

The safe-currency yen recouped some of those losses on Tuesday, after news of the development of a coronavirus vaccine came. The vaccine news raised optimism of a global economic recovery.

The USD/CNY pair dropped 0.19% to 6.6157.  Earlier in the day was the release of October’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index. 

Both data showed smaller-than-expected growth year-on-year. Moreover, the CPI showed smaller-than-expected growth month-on-month.

On the Vaccines Front

In Brazil, a final stage trial for Sinovac Biotech Ltd vaccine candidate Coronavac was halted in Brazil. It was due to a serious adverse event that occurred on Oct. 29.

The AUD/USD pair edged down 0.03% to 0.7283. With the Antipodean currency across the Tasman Sea,  the NZD/USD pair was up 0.26% to 0.6835. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is set to meet on Wednesday.

Furthermore, the GBP/USD pair edged up 0.19% to 1.3188.

Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden continues to face challenges from incumbent President Donald Trump. He shows no signs of conceding, planning rallies to boost support for his legal challenges to the presidential election results.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, Trump is completely within his rights to look into “irregularities” from the election.