The dollar edged down today amid signs central bank measures were beginning to ease some of the funding squeeze, although it retained most of its whopping overnight gains on mounting fears about the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

The pound and safe-haven yen made the best efforts at recovery, with the pound gaining 0.5% to $1.2110 and the yen up 0.5% to 107.18 per dollar.

The Australian dollar scraped back over $0.60 and the New Zealand dollar rose 0.3%, after being trampled in the dollar’s tear.

Yet all majors are well below week-ago levels as investors sell nearly everything for dollars and businesses draw down loans and hoard cash to ride out the crisis.

The world is adopting a war footing as the pandemic spreads and country after country announces draconian lockdowns. The virus has killed over 8,000 people globally, while the total number of cases is approaching 200,000.

The euro bobbled between flat and a little firmer at $1.1021 and against a basket of currencies the dollar was a tad weaker at 99.289.

Nevertheless, few expect the dollar demand to disappear, or for languishing export-exposed currencies to rebound far.

The Australian dollar has lost more than 14% against the greenback this year and fell below 60 cents for the first time since 2003 overnight. It last sat at $0.6019, and the kiwi stood at $0.5959.