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©Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images |
May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose to a five-week high against major peers on Monday, buoyed by inflation worries at home and growth concerns globally. The Turkish lira sank to a two-month low after the weekend elections, while the Thai baht rallied almost 1%.
The greenback got support from higher Treasury yields after a survey of U.S. consumers' long-term inflation expectations jumped to the highest since 2011. Worries over a debt-ceiling standoff on raising the U.S. government's $31.4 trillion borrowing limit also supported the safe-haven dollar. In Asia, China is at the centre of renewed worries about a global recession after disappointing economic data.
The Chinese yuan dipped to a fresh two-month low of 6.9749 per dollar in offshore trading on Monday before slightly paring losses to 6.9633. The People's Bank of China kept its seven-day reverse repo rate unchanged at 2% on Monday.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, reached 102.75 for the first time since April 10 in early Asian trading, though later eased 0.11% to 102.58. The 10-year Treasury yield was little changed in Tokyo, hovering around 3.485%. The Japanese currency dipped as low as 136.27 per dollar and was about 0.3% lower at 136.17 per dollar.
The dollar was last up 0.28% at 19.635 Turkish lira after jumping to 19.70 for the first time since March 10. Turkey headed for a runoff vote after President Tayyip Erdogan outperformed projections, holding a sizable lead over his rival but falling short of an outright majority.
The U.S. currency sank 0.72% to 33.735 baht in onshore Thai trading and earlier dipped as much as 0.92%. Thailand's opposition parties secured a stunning election win on Sunday. Still, it was not confident whether they would form the next government with parliamentary rules written by the military junta.