NEW YORK: The dollar's many detractors may have missed it, but the much-maligned US currency is on the rise.

The greenback, thought to be on life support and mostly surviving on safe-haven flows, has been climbing since it struck record lows against the euro in July 2008, helped recently by the Eurozone debt crisis, an improving US economy and a return to the dollar as the reserve currency of choice.

The US economic recovery alone is expected to push capital flows into the dollar. If growth does take root more firmly, it will reduce bets on more monetary easing, which has been a debilitating weakness for the dollar since the 2008 financial crisis. The market is starting to agree in a way that it hasn't in nearly a decade. A key factor that points to more dollar strength can be found in the options market, where bets on the dollar's path against the yen is closer to favouring the dollar more than at any time in at least nine years.

"The deck is stacked, at least at the present, in our favour," said Jacob Gold, president of Scottsdale, Arizonabased Jacob Gold & Associates, an investment strategy advisory firm for high networth individuals and companies. Though up 13.6% from 2008's low, the ICE Futures US dollar index is currently closer to that bottom than peak, suggesting room for improvement.

Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com