The dollar is the lead gainer on the month ahead of the final North American trading session in January 2020
The picture above heavily reflects a risk-off start to the trading year as markets have had to deal with US-Iran geopolitical tensions before moving on to the coronavirus outbreak that is gripping the world at the moment.
Despite the fact that US equities made all-time highs after the US-China trade deal was signed, it provided little relief for commodity currencies during the course of the month.
The fact that the aussie and kiwi are also so closely tied to China from an economic perspective is not helping their case amid the latest news surrounding the virus outbreak.
For AUD/USD and NZD/USD, the selloff in January has certainly made amends for the short covering seen in late December amid thin liquidity conditions - with the dollar being sold across the board during Christmas week.
