Forex Today: Dollar rules, but corrective movements likely ahead of the weekend

Here is what you need to know on Friday, February 21st:

• Risk-off led the way. Coronavirus concerns exacerbated by multiple companies warning on sales results and an increased number of cases in China’s neighbour countries.
• The dollar remained the strongest, although the EUR/USD pair spent the day consolidating just below 1.0800 for a second consecutive day, as extreme oversold conditions made bears hesitate.
• The GBP/USD pair fell to a fresh 2020 low of 1.2848, later stabilising around 1.2880, despite upbeat UK Retail Sales.
• USD/JPY hit 112.22 a multi-month high to finally settle just above 112.00. The Japanese yen was hit by fears of a technical recession, losing its safe-haven appeal.
• AUD/USD fell to 0.6609, its lowest in over a decade after the Australian unemployment rate jumped to 5.3%.
• Gold prices extended their run to levels last seen in February 2013 holding on to gains around $ 1,620.00 a troy ounce.
• Crude oil prices edged higher after the EIA has reported a build in US crude oil inventories of 414,000 barrels, much better than the 2.494 million increase expected.
• High-yielding equities closed in the red as more big names keep trimming sales forecasts on the back of the coronavirus outbreak.
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