Tariff worries drag U.S. dollar, boosts safe-haven yen, Swiss franc

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The dollar was softer connected Monday and trading adjacent its lowest level successful 4 months against large currencies arsenic concerns implicit a planetary commercialized warfare troubled investors, lifting harmless havens the yen and the Swiss franc.

Markets person been fixated connected commercialized tensions arsenic U.S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs connected apical trading partners lone to hold immoderate of them for a period amid increasing signs and fears of a U.S. economical slowdown.

That has led to investors losing religion successful the U.S. system which has been outperforming its peers. On currency futures markets, investors person slashed nett agelong dollar positions to $15.3 cardinal from a nine-year precocious of $35.2 cardinal successful January.

Risk-averse investors person sought the Japanese yen and Swiss franc alternatively sending some currencies to multi-month highs. On Monday, the yen was 0.25% firmer astatine 147.68 per dollar, conscionable beneath the five-month precocious of 146.94 it touched connected Friday.

The Swiss franc deed a three-month precocious of 0.87665 per dollar connected Monday. The euro was dependable astatine $1.0842 aft clocking its champion play show since 2009 past week boosted by Germany's game-changing fiscal reforms.

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, was past astatine 103.83 connected Monday, stuck adjacent a four-month debased touched past week.

The dollar fell much than 3% past week against large rivals, clocking its weakest play show since November 2022 arsenic investors fret astir tariffs and its interaction connected the economy.

Adding to capitalist jitters, Trump successful a Fox News interrogation connected Sunday declined to foretell whether the U.S. could look a recession amid banal marketplace concerns astir his tariff actions connected Mexico, Canada and China.

Trump's comments sent U.S. banal futures lower, portion the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell 3 ground points successful Asian hours, weighing connected the dollar.

"If Trump is looking to prosecute a weaker dollar, little yields ... past surely that adds to this thought that possibly the dollar can't fortify oregon can't determination aggressively higher," said Parisha Saimbi, Asia-Pacific rates and FX strategist astatine BNP Paribas successful Singapore.

"FX investors are successful a wide de-risking mode."

Investors were besides digesting information from Friday that showed U.S. occupation maturation picked up successful February, but cracks are emerging successful the once-resilient labour marketplace amid a chaotic commercialized policy.

Nonfarm payrolls accrued by 151,000 jobs past period aft rising by a downwardly revised 125,000 successful January, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by 160,000 jobs aft a antecedently reported 143,000 summation successful January.