The euro was on track for its biggest monthly fall since January as political uncertainty weighed in the run up to France’s general elections, while the dollar jumped to a near four-decade high against the battered yen ahead of key inflation data.
The dollar was also helped overnight by a disappointing performance by President Joe Biden in the first presidential debate late Thursday, increasing the chances of Republican candidate Donald Trump winning November’s vote.
The yellow metal had stuck to a tight trading range through most of June, amid growing uncertainty over the path of U.S. interest rates. While some data showed the U.S. economy was cooling, Federal Reserve officials warned that sticky inflation was likely to delay any plans to cut interest rates.
Distributions of tokens stolen from the Mt Gox exchange in 2014 remained the biggest point of concern for Bitcoin. Liquidators for the exchange said distributions will begin in early July, and will see stolen Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash tokens being returned to clients.
European equities have been boosted by the news that Britain’s economy grew 0.7% in the first three months of this year compared with the previous quarter, above an initial estimate of 0.6% growth.
