FOREX-Dollar hits one-year high on recovery bets, yields lend support

* Dollar marks fresh 1-year high vs. yen
* Euro hits 5-month low vs. dollar
* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E

By Ritvik Carvalho
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - The dollar hit a one-year high
versus the yen and multi-month peaks with other currencies on
Wednesday as investors bet that fiscal stimulus and aggressive
vaccinations will help the United States lead a global pandemic
recovery.
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to outline later on
Wednesday how he intends to pay for a $3 trillion to $4 trillion
infrastructure plan, after earlier this week saying 90% of adult
Americans would be eligible for vaccination by April 19.
The dollar index =USD rose as far as 93.439, the highest
in almost five months. It has climbed from close to 90 at the
start of March, on course for its best month since 2016.
The dollar set a one-year top of 110.97 yen JPY= and
marked an almost five-month high of $1.1705 per euro =EUR ,
although it gave up some of those gains in European trading.
The euro traded 0.1% higher at $1.1730, just off a
five-month low against the dollar.
The dollar was also supported by a surge in U.S. bond
yields, which make the currency more attractive as an
investment.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note US10YT=RR
jumped to a one-year high of 1.776% on Tuesday.
"With U.S. Treasuries meaningfully under pressure yesterday,
the environment is clearly supportive for the U.S. dollar,
particularly as Europe continues to battle with a third Covid
wave," said ING's global head of markets, Chris Turner, in a
note to clients.
"Still, Europe should see an economic rebound in late 2Q as
the vaccination process gathers pace and U.S. Treasury moves
should become less erratic (vs. the scale of the move in
February, particularly when the infrastructure spending is
expected to be accompanied by $1.8tn worth of tax hikes – as per
media reports yesterday)."
Investors will watch closely monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls
data on Friday, with Federal Reserve policymakers so far citing
slack in the jobs market for their continued lower-for-longer
stance on interest rates, which has boosted the growth outlook
but also stoked worries about inflation.
Data overnight showed U.S. consumer confidence soared this
month to the highest since the start of the pandemic, supporting
views that economic growth will accelerate in the coming months,
driven by more fiscal stimulus and an improving public health
situation. Australia's dollar AUD= edged up to $0.7614, consolidating
after its drop to $0.7564 last week, the lowest level seen this
year.
The Chinese yuan CNH= traded around 6.57 per dollar in the
offshore market, from the weakest since November at 6.5838,
touched on both Monday and Tuesday.
Bitcoin briefly topped $59,000, trying to close the distance
to the record peak at $61,781.83 set earlier this month.
PayPal Holdings PYPL.O said Tuesday it launched a
"Checkout with Crypto" service, which will allow U.S. users to
use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay online merchants
worldwide, adding to the growing global acceptance of the
digital tokens on both Wall Street and Main Street.
"The big companies have to question whether they can afford
to ignore it anymore," Julius de Kempenaer, senior analyst at
StockCharts.com, said about bitcoin, which has already doubled
in value this year.
He said his first target was for the token to rise above
$70,000, but that considering the current momentum, "the best
thing to do is just follow the trend and let the market tell you
where it's going to end."

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