U.S. Dollar Rises As European Shares Decline After Trump's Speech

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the European session on Thursday, as European stocks fell after U.S. President Donald Trump gave no clear end date for the Middle East conflict in his rare prime-time speech and vowed more strikes on Iran, raising the risk of more extensive damage to energy infrastructure throughout the Gulf.

Inflation and growth fears returned to the fore as oil prices jumped more than 7 percent on supply disruption fears.

Iran rejected Trump's claim that it had sought a ceasefire, asserting that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed and that the vital transit route is firmly under IRGC Navy control.

The Financial Times reported that an international conference of 35 countries led by the U.K. will meet today in an effort to exert political and diplomatic pressure to reopen the strait.

In the European trading today, the U.S. dollar rose to 2-day highs of 1.1511 against the euro, 1.3186 against the pound, 159.73 against the yen and 0.8009 against the Swiss franc, from early lows of 1.1606, 1.3320, 158.58 and 0.7929, respectively. If the greenback extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.14 against the euro, 1.30 against the pound, 161.00 against the yen and 0.81 against the franc.

Against the Australia and the New Zealand dollars, the greenback advanced to 2-day highs of 0.6862 and 0.5700 from early lows of 0.6941 and 0.5759, respectively. The greenback may test resistance around 0.67 against the aussie and 0.56 against the kiwi.

Moving away from an early 3-day low of 1.3869 against the Canadian dollar, the greenback climbed to a 2-day high of 1.3931. On the upside, 1.40 is seen as the next resistance level for the greenback.

Looking ahead, Canada and U.S. trade data for February, U.S. weekly jobless claims data and U.S. Baker Hughes oil rig count data are slated for release in the New York session.