News the dollar was set for losses as it headed for a second straight weekly decline on Friday as sentiment remained skewed toward riskier assets. Meanwhile, intervention by Australia’s central bank halted the Aussie’s recent surge. The dollar index was last at 93.733, little changed in Asian hours, down 0.24% this week, as the dollar continued to fall from a 12-month high of 94.565 hit earlier this month. That had stemmed losses on Thursday, which were boosted by better U.S. jobs and housing data. But the rally had cooled Friday morning in Asia, with risk sentiment buoyed by news that developer China Evergrande Group had provided funds to pay interest on U.S. dollar bonds, averting a default. But traders were still trying to assess whether the dollar had room to fall lower, or if this was a temporary blip on the road to higher gains. "People are wondering if we're at a turning point, because the dollar has been weak, set for losses and that doesn't really fit with the broader narrative that global growth is cooling. And the Fed is on track to keep easing, which should support global growth in the dollar," said Paul Mackel, global head of FX research at HSBC. On Friday, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was at 1.6872%, down slightly from Thursday's multi-month high of 1.7%, as markets continued to brace for an announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will begin tapering its massive bond-buying program, widely expected in November. Mackel said part of the reason for the dollar's weakness was the strong performance by currencies that are largely commodity-exporting nations. That calmed down on Friday, however, as traders took profits, analysts said, and energy prices eased. Brent crude, which had climbed above $86 a barrel on Thursday, continued its decline, last trading at $84.10. The Australian dollar was at $0.7475, down from a three-month high on Thursday, as the boost to the China-affected currency from the Evergrande news matched the Reserve Bank of Australia’s move to curb bond selling and prevent prices from rising. The RBA said on Friday it had moved to maintain its yield target for the first time in eight months, spending A$1 billion ($750 million) to dampen aggressive bond selling as traders bet inflation would draw interest rate hikes. The Canadian dollar also slumped on energy prices to C$1.2352 per U.S. dollar, down from C$1.2287 on Thursday, a level last seen in June. The British pound paused at $1.3798, off a monthly peak hit earlier this week that had been buoyed by rising expectations of interest rate hikes to combat rising inflationary pressures. The euro was little changed at $1.1627, while the yen wobbled in sight of multi-year lows, with a dollar worth 114.01 yen compared with 114.69 yen earlier in the week, a four-year low. China’s yuan weakened against the dollar on Friday after the FX regulator warned of possible action if the currency market experiences greater volatility after a recent rally. But the yuan still looked set for its biggest weekly gain since May. Bitcoin was at $63.928, slightly lower than Wednesday’s all-time high of $67.016.