ECB Cuts Boost Dollar Due To Asian Currencies Drop

South Korea’s won and Malaysia’s ringgit led losses after an unexpected cut in the European Central Bank’s benchmark rates. Improving U.S. data are increasing the odds the Federal Reserve will raise borrowing costs next year.“The strengthening U.S. economy is creating expectations that U.S. rates will rise sooner rather than later.” “The U.S. dollar strength has spilled over in emerging Asian currencies,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, a Singapore-based foreign-exchange strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. Asian currencies had their biggest weekly drop in more than a month as demand for the dollar rose on the widening interest-rate gap with the euro. The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index fell 0.2 percent this week in the steepest drop since the period through August 1.