The safe-haven U.S. dollar gained support to trade higher earlier in the week after President Vladimir Putin ordered his nuclear forces to be on standby.
The directive was issued to Russia's defense minister and military chief of general staff on Sunday following aggressive statements by NATO and economic sanctions imposed on it.
Fearing the situation would worsen if Russia uses its nuclear weapons, the safe haven currency continued to record gains with most major currency ‘pairs’ showing a ‘gap’ during the opening of the Asian session today.
This can be seen in the price chart of the euro against the US dollar which showed a ‘gap’ to open about 140 pips lower at the beginning of Asian trade. This puts the euro back to around its lowest level since June 2020.
Meanwhile, the pound also depreciated lower by trading around a two -month low against the US dollar. Risk-sensitive currencies, the Aussie and New Zealand dollars plunged around 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.
Following instructions from Putin, the European Union (EU) continued to respond by announcing unprecedented new sanctions and actions against Russia.
These include arms financing for Ukraine, a complete ban on Moscow planes using EU airspace, banning government media channels Sputnik and Russia Today from EU territory.
Meanwhile, Russia's advance into Ukraine continued on the fifth day of the attack. Russian military vehicles were reported to have entered Ukraine’s second -largest city, Kharkiv with reports of clashes taking place and residents warned to stay in shelters.
