The dollar was poised to end the week on a strong note on Friday, when it was perched near a two-year high, supported by the outlook for aggressive US rates, while the yen struggled to stay afloat as it weakened again to a new low. The greenback stayed in the spotlight and tried to reach a new two-year high against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index rising 0.02% to 108.45. The Australian and New Zealand dollars also struggled to stay above their lowest levels in two years on Friday, with the Aussie down 0.23% to $0.6223

The Russian ruble strengthened on Friday against the American dollar and the Chinese yuan, before an anticipated rise in interest rates by the central bank, which should however not have a significant impact on the currency in the short term. The ruble strengthened by 0.2% to 13.99 against the Chinese yuan on the Moscow Exchange. Analysts believe that the ruble exchange rate is influenced by factors other than monetary policy. The ruble has since regained lost ground and settled above 100 to the dollar, considered by the market to be a new level of balance where it could remain for some time provided there were no new external shocks

The South African rand regained some of its losses on Friday after a slight improvement in the sense of risk. At 08:01 GMT, the rand traded at 18.3325 against the dollar, about 0.4% higher than its previous close.