SINGAPORE, Nov 2 Reuters The dollar fell broadly on Thursday, with risksensitive Asian currencies leading gains, as investors cheered a likely peak in U.S. interest rates after the Federal Reserve left them on hold.

Focus now turns to the Bank of England and sterling crept 0.3 higher to 1.2180 and firmed to 86.98 per euro in anticipation of rates being held at high levels.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to another hike, but with the funds rate target ceiling at 22year high of 5.5 he said the risks of doing too much or too little were now balanced.

Markets took that as a green light to stick with a sub 20 chance that rates will rise in December. Tenyear Treasury yields are down 20 basis points from Wednesday39;s highs, equities rallied and risksensitive currencies bounced.

The Australian dollar jumped 0.9 on Wednesday and another 0.7 on Thursday to touch a threeweek high of 0.6439. The New Zealand dollar hit a twoweek peak of 0.5896.

Bitcoin , sometimes traded as a proxy for risktaking, broke above 35,000 for the first time since May 2022.

Going back to the last FOMC meeting, we were talking about more rate hikes, and now it39;s a lot more balanced and a lot more cautious, said IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore.

That39;s supported equity markets and I think it39;s supported the pointy end of the risk spectrum, which is where bitcoin sits.

Traders also drew further conviction that U.S. rates could have peaked after data showed U.S. manufacturing…