The U.S. dollar rose on Monday as investors flocked to the safe-haven currency after Hamas launched a widescale attack against Israel.
“It’s a little bit of risk aversion, not a wholesale panic and not a huge amount of sell-off, but just a little bit of a move towards safety as markets wait to see how things develop,” Brad Bechtel, global head of FX explained, suggesting that investors are simply bracing themselves for further escalations.
Although the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, fell by 0.16%, the euro weakened against the resolute dollar by 0.19% to $1.0566.
Following the outbreak of conflict, the sterling rebounded from earlier losses to trade at $1.224 while the Japanese yen, which is another safe-haven currency, rose 0.57% higher to 148.47 per dollar.