Dollar Rebounds As Middle East Tensions Reignite, Strait Of Hormuz Closed.

Singapore/Hong Kong; April 2026: The dollar headed for its highest level in a week at the start of Asian trading today as renewed tensions in the Middle East sent investors panic stricken The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against six major currencies, climbed as much as 0.3% to reach 98.485, its highest ​level since April 13. This reversed a selloff that saw the ​currency fall to its lowest levels since the start of ⁠the war on Friday (17th April) as hopes for a peace deal grew.

Immediately after US President Donald Trump said today (20th April 2026), that the US military had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade, while Iran said it would ​not participate in a second round of peace talks despite Trump’s ​threat of renewed airstrikes, global markets have started responding in a panicking mode.

Analysts at Barclays said their sentiment data showed investors still favoured ‌the ⁠dollar, so it had more room to drop should the situation in the Middle East normalise. “Any topsy turvy affecting the market would likely have less space to extend and may even prove opportune to re-establish short dollar exposures”, they ​said in a press today early morning IST. “The question here remains on whether this wobble is even worth trading given all the related noise and ​uncertainties”.

Meanwhile Xe, has demonstrated that as of 05:15 IST (20th April 2026):

1 INR = 0.0107986 USD;

1 INR = 0.741781 GBP;

1 INR = 0.00919944 EUR;

1 INR = 0.0151385 AUD;

1 INR = 1.71902 JPY.

• The euro was down 0.3% at $1.1731, while the British ​pound fell ⁠by the same magnitude to $1.3480.

• Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was up 0.2% at 158.945 yen and 0.1% stronger against the Chinese yuan at ⁠6.8244 ​yuan in offshore trade.

• The Australian dollar fell ​0.6% to $0.7122 while the New Zealand dollar slid 0.4% to $0.5856.

• Bitcoin was down 0.7% at $74,130.13, as ​ether shed 0.7% to $2,266.10.

Team Maverick.