By Gina Lee

Investing.com – The dollar was up on Monday morning in Asia, with after the discovery of the omicron COVID-19 variant. As research continues into this new strain, it is important to be cautious.

After falling to 95.973 Friday, the currency exchange rate that measures the greenback against other currencies rose 0.19% to 96.290 at 10:52 ET (03:52 GMT). The U.S. currency, which has been a safe haven for many years, continues to be able to take advantage of the uncertainty. But the timing and location of when the U.S. Federal Reserve (and other important central banks) will increase interest rates are still uncertain.

It was up 0.3% at 113.68. It was the yen that has been most affected by the flight to safety. On Friday, it jumped 2% to 113.05

It was at 0.7143 and up 0.2% respectively, after the Australian dollar recovered from a Friday 1% plunge. Inching up 0.09 to 0.6832, the pair was inching higher.

Both the pair fell by 0.1% to 6.3822, and the pair dropped by 0.05% at 1.3333.

Some countries implemented border controls after the discovery of an omicron variant last week in South Africa. However, there have been cases reported already in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, and the U.K.

Although still under study, the mutations in omicron’s spike protein suggest it could be resistant to current vaccines. BioNTech SE (NASDAQ) stated Friday that they could find out within two weeks the results of the vaccine developed with them. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE) must be overhauled. Moderna (NASDAQ) Inc. Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton stated that a reworked shot might be possible in the early 2022.

“Until then market volatility will remain elevated.” Markets have been forced to reassess the global growth outlook until we know more,” National Australia Bank (OTC:) senior FX strategist Rodrigo Catril said in a note.

Other investors echoed the note’s sentiment.

We anticipate currencies being volatile this week. “It won’t take many negative news about omicron pushing the Australian dollar below $0.7000,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist Joseph Capurso stated to Reuters.

Later in the day, Joe Biden from the United States will provide an update on the country’s reaction to the omicron variant.