Forex: USD continues to climb, sterling down on Brexit pressure

The U.S. dollar continued to climb Tuesday morning in Asia, rising to highs not seen since April 2017.

The US Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies was up 0.33% to 99.25.

The climb in the dollar matched declines in the British pound, which took a hit after Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked parliament to vote against any delays to his Brexit plan. He wants Brexit to happen by Oct. 31. The GBP/USD pair was down 0.11% to 1.2052.

The USD/JPY pair traded up 0.11% at 106.33 by 10:20 PM ET (02:20 GMT).

For its part, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) set the reference rate for the yuan at 7.0884, compared to a previous close of 7.1717. The yuan remains at 11-and-a-half year lows.

The yuan remains weak against the dollar, with the former losing ground and the later strengthening. On Sunday, tariffs of 15% on USD110 billion of Chinese imports took effect while retaliatory tariffs from China also kicked in.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

The AUD/USD pair was down 0.19% to 0.6700 and the NZD/USD pair traded down 0.33% to 0.6286. A monetary policy decision was expected out of Australia on Tuesday.