The euro fell, as it is seen as vulnerable to a rate hike in the United States on expectations that the Fed will tighten policy more quickly than the dovish European Central Bank.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.3% at 96.38. The euro was down 0.4% at $1.1268 .
The Norwegian crown was down 0.6% against the U.S. dollar. The Norges Bank, which said it will maintain a policy of not buying Norwegian crowns on behalf of the country’s government in December, is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate on Thursday.
MUFG analysts, referring to the new coronavirus strain, said: “A hike is not fully priced with Omicron uncertainty taking out some of the pricing, so there’s scope for NOK outperformance if Norges bank acts.”
The pound lost 0.2% to $1.3245 after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that Britain faced a “tidal wave” of the Omicron variant.
The Swiss franc was flat, remaining not far from its highest level since end-June 2015 versus the euro at 1.0373 .
The Swiss National Bank, which has been battling the appreciation of the franc since the start of the pandemic, is due to make its latest interest rates decision on Thursday and has stepped up it intervention against the franc.
The Turkish lira trimmed some losses as the central bank was in the market selling dollars. It was down 1.7% at 14.12 versus the greenback, after hitting an all-time low at 14.99 on persisting concerns about President Tayyip Erdogan’s low-interest rate policy and before a rate decision later this week.
Bitcoin was up 1.7% at $48,810.28 after hitting levels above $50,000 on Sunday. Ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, fell 3% to $4,011.
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