* The green dollar and other traditional paradises remain as stocks hit records
* The Canadian dollar boosted the pace of commodity currency gains overnight
* Chart: World currency exchange rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
TOKYO, Jan 21 (Reuters) – The dollar fell against major mates on Thursday, with optimism that the new US administration’s massive stimulus package will boost growth in demand for safe haven currencies .
More risky commodity currencies were backed as Asian stocks followed US stocks until they set new records after Joe Biden, who has unveiled plans for a pandemic relief package of 1 , $ 9 trillion, has invested the presidency.
“The sense of risk is quite positive right now and we expect it to continue this year, with growth that will pick up strongly,” said Shinichiro Kadota, chief currency strategist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.
The Canadian dollar and the Norwegian krone are likely to outperform, while European currencies are lagging behind, he said.
The green dollar should also strengthen against the euro this year, as the United States is recovering faster than most other countries, he added.
The US currency fell 0.2% to 1.2611 C $ in Asia, and fell for the third day. It hit a three-year low of C $ 1.2607 overnight, after the Bank of Canada chose not to cut interest rates.
The dollar fell 0.4% to 8,456 Norwegian kroner, also a third day of falls.
The Australian dollar rose 0.4% to 77.74 US cents, adding a 0.7% rise in the previous session. Australia boasted another sharp rise in employment in December, according to data released on Thursday.
Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, promising to end the “uncivil war” in a deeply divided country suffering from a battered economy and a rapid coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans.
North of the border, the Bank of Canada said Wednesday that the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine and stronger foreign demand is boosting the economic outlook in the medium term, choosing to maintain its interest rate during the night at 0.25%. Money markets had been looking at the possibility of a reduction in the so-called micro rate of less than 25 basis points.
The dollar lost 0.2% to 103.59 yen on Thursday, another safe haven currency, after falling to a two-week low of 103.33.
The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged on Thursday as it revised economic forecasts for next year.
The euro gained 0.2%, investing a similar decline from the previous session, to trade at $ 1.2135.
The European Central Bank also decides policy on Thursday, without expecting any change.
European countries are struggling to contain the new coronavirus amid concerns that a new variant could lead to tighter blockades and more economic pain.
The dollar index fell 0.2% to 90,268, falling for the third day since it peaked Monday at nearly a month (90,956).
The green dollar began the year on a firmer footing, supported by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields in response to Biden’s massive stimulus plan.
But many analysts expect a return to the dollar’s downward trend that saw it lose nearly 7% in 2020 amid expectations that US monetary policy would remain ultra-light and expect a post-pandemic global recovery.
“The weakness of the US dollar against MS and commodities must run in the context of the vaccine and the US stimulus provoked global reflection, but the outlook for the US dollar did not go be so reduced in the short term, ”Westpac strategists wrote in a research note.
“A revaluation of the US outlook following Biden’s $ 1.9 million fiscal spending plan compared to a still weak outlook for the eurozone could keep a strong dollar against the EUR” .
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Reports by Kevin Buckland; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore