By Harry Robertson and Rae Wee

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The greenback rose to its highest in nearly three months towards different main currencies on Monday as merchants clawed again bets for aggressive fee cuts by the Federal Reserve this yr.

The Fed repricing has adopted Friday’s blockbuster U.S. jobs report that far exceeded market expectations and despatched U.S. bond yields hovering, boosting the nation’s foreign money.

Treasury yields rose additional on Monday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated over the weekend that the central financial institution may “give it a while” earlier than chopping rates of interest.

The , which tracks the dollar towards six different main currencies, rose to 104.3, its highest since Nov. 17, It was final up 0.21% at 104.27.

The 2-year Treasury yield was final up 6 foundation factors at 4.433%, after leaping 18 bps on Friday.

The euro fell to its lowest since Dec. 11 at $1.0747 and was final down 0.36% at $1.0752.

In an interview with the CBS information present “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday evening and was carried out on Thursday, Powell stated the Fed may very well be affected person in deciding when to chop its benchmark rate of interest.

“The prudent factor to do is… to only give it a while and see that the info verify that inflation is transferring right down to 2% in a sustainable method,” Powell stated.

Charu Chanana, head of FX technique at Saxo Financial institution, stated: “Causes for a bullish USD development proceed to multiply… and now markets having to noticeably reassess Powell’s pushback to March fee minimize pricing.”

Japan’s yen fell to its lowest since early December in early Asia commerce at 148.82 per greenback, earlier than steadying to face at 148.36.

Jane Foley, head of FX technique at Rabobank, stated a weak euro zone economic system was additionally seemingly weighing on the euro.

“We’ve got stagnation in Germany,” she stated. “I believe we’re going right into a interval when it’ll be actually laborious for the euro to make important good points.”

Knowledge on Monday confirmed that German exports fell greater than anticipated in December on account of weak world demand.

RATE CUT EXPECTATIONS

Fed funds futures now present roughly 120 foundation factors (bps) value of easing priced in for the Fed this yr, down from about 150 bps on the finish of final yr.

A March minimize is now seen as a roughly 16% chance, down sharply from round 50% per week in the past.

Sterling was down 0.46% to $1.2576, its lowest since Dec. 13, because the greenback rallied.

The pound confirmed little response to revised information that indicated Britain’s unemployment fee was decrease than anticipated on the finish of the yr.

Elsewhere, China’s central financial institution continued to make use of the official steering repair to maintain its foreign money steady, after setting the midpoint fee for the yuan firmer than Reuters’ estimate.

That supported the barely, although it nonetheless struggled towards the stronger greenback to complete the home session at 7.1982, the weakest shut since Nov. 17.

The primary occasion on the financial calendar is the ISM non-manufacturing survey later within the day, which is able to give a way of the well being of the U.S. economic system in January.