Khaberni - A sense of apathy dominated the currency markets in early Asian trading on Wednesday, while traders remained cautious about President Donald Trump's efforts to end the war with Iran.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that the United States was making progress in talks with Iran, but Tehran denied conducting any direct negotiations, leaving investors anxious.
The euro rose 0.1% to 1.1619 dollars, while the British pound increased by 0.1% to 1.3428 dollars. The New Zealand dollar remained steady at 0.5834 dollars.
This relative calm in the currency markets contrasted with the sharp increase in stock futures and the significant decline in crude oil prices, after Trump said on Tuesday that the United States was making progress in its efforts to negotiate an end to the war with Iran.
Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Limited in Melbourne said, "A sense of fatigue is already taking hold among those who react to every breaking news about the dialogue between the United States, its allies, and Iran, including speculation about high-level talks and temporary ceasefire proposals."
The dollar was steady against the Japanese yen at 158.645 yen, after the minutes of the monetary policy meeting held by the Bank of Japan in January showed that several board members saw the need to continue raising interest rates without specifying a particular pace.
The Australian dollar fell 0.2% to 0.6983 dollars, before it rebounded to settle with little change, following the release of inflation data for February, which showed a rise of 3.7% prior to the outbreak of the American-Israeli war with Iran, a rate that was slightly slower than analysts' expectations.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the American currency against a basket of six major currencies, decreased by 0.1% to 99.126.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin increased by 1.2% to 70910.16 dollars, while Ether rose by 0.8% to 2164.74 dollars.
