With most of Asia and Europe closed for holidays, liquidity was thin on Monday as risk-off sentiment set in early in the week.
(AFP pic) SINGAPORE: The dollar was steady on Monday, while the yen flirted with the crucial 160 per dollar level as nervous investors took stock of the escalating Iran war, with all eyes on the latest deadline from US president Donald Trump to reopen Strait of Hormuz.
In an expletive-laden Easter Sunday social media post, Trump threatened to target Iran's power plants and bridges on Tuesday if the strategic waterway is not reopened, setting a precise deadline of Tuesday 8pm Eastern Time (0000 GMT).
With most of Asia and Europe closed for holiday on Monday, liquidity is likely to be thin, although risk-off sentiment has broadly set in at the start of the week.
"Trump's latest deadline itself is bearish not because investors think war is guaranteed tomorrow if Iran does not open the Strait, but because every new ultimatum makes the disruption look longer, stickier, and more macro-negative," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore.
"Investors are treating this as an oil-to-inflation-to-rates problem, which is why the dollar remains the cleanest haven for now, while gold, bonds and yen have all looked far less reliable than in a normal geopolitical scare." The euro eased 0.13% to US$1.151 in early trading, while sterling last fetched US$1.3187.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six rivals, was at 100.2.
The Australian dollar was 0.13% higher at US$0.6893, wobbling near the two-month low it hit last week.
Global markets have been rattled since the US-Israel war with Iran broke out at the end of February, with Tehran effectively closing....
