U.S. Dollar Climbs Further Off Recent Lows

(RTTNews) - Following the rebound seen during yesterday's trading, the value of the U.S. dollar has seen further upside during trading on Friday.

The U.S. dollar index is climbing 0.57 points or 0.6 percent to 103.10, bouncing further off its lowest levels in over a month.

The greenback is trading at 130.75 yen versus the 130.85 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0761 compared to yesterday's $1.0831.

The extended recovery by the dollar comes as the currency has benefited from its appeal as a safe haven amid renewed concerns about the health of the banking sector.

U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank (DB) moved sharply lower in early trading amid a spike by the German lender's credit default swaps.

Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS Group (UBS) also came under pressure after a report from Bloomberg said they are among banks under scrutiny in a Justice Department probe into whether financial professionals helped Russian oligarchs evade sanctions.

UBS' state-backed acquisition of troubled rival Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs, or $3.2 billion, helped ease concerns about recent banking industry turmoil earlier in the week.

While stocks on Wall Street managed to recover from early weakness, the dollar has seen continued strength throughout the day.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing a continued slump in orders for transportation equipment led to an unexpected decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders slid by 1.0 percent in February after plummeting by a revised 5.0 percent in January.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to increase by 0.6 percent compared to the 4.5 percent plunge that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding the steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders were unchanged in February after rising by 0.4 percent in January. Ex-transportation orders were expected to inch up by 0.2 percent.