LONDON, Feb. 20 (Reuters) — The dollar stormed to a six-week high against the yen and hit a twoweek peak versus the euro in early European trade on Friday as dealers bought back the US currency after weeks of selling it across the board.
“We are seeing an unwinding of short dollar positions,” said Mark McFarland, currency strategist at UBS. “The market is taking a breather before its next assault on $1.30.”
With persistent intervention from Japan appearing successful in halting the dollar’s slide against the yen, many traders were giving up on their short dollar positions, at least for now.
The dollar rose almost one percent on the day to a high of 107.98 yen , moving further away from 31/2 year lows set earlier this month at 105.10.
The euro also succumbed to the dollar’s broad-based rebound, falling more than half a percent to $1.2630 after crashing through key chart support at $1.2650.
