The best-performing major currency in September 2026 was the Japanese yen, up 4.2% against a basket of 15 others. That is its biggest monthly gain since November 2024. The worst was the New Zealand dollar, down 2.7%, its weakest month since December 2024.
It was a month of rate hikes. Seven of the central banks behind the 16 currencies we track raised rates in September: New Zealand, the euro area, Denmark, the United States, Japan, Norway and Australia. The hikes on their own decided very little. The dollar rallied after the Fed moved, but the New Zealand dollar, the Australian dollar and the Norwegian krone all finished the month lower even though their central banks tightened too. What each bank said about its next step mattered more than the step itself.
The September 2026 ranking
Each figure is the currency's change against an equal-weighted basket of the other 15, from the reference rates of 31 August to those of 30 September, taken from the FX Compass index. The last column covers the year so far, from 31 December 2025.
| Rank | Currency | September | 2026 so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese Yen (JPY) | +4.2% | +2.4% |
| 2 | US Dollar (USD) | +2.3% | +2.6% |
| 3 | Russian Ruble (RUB) | +2.0% | −3.1% |
| 4 | Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH) | +1.9% | −3.2% |
| 5 | British Pound (GBP) | +0.2% | +1.2% |
| 6 | Euro (EUR) | 0.0% | −1.1% |
| 7 | Danish Krone (DKK) | 0.0% | −1.2% |
| 8 | Canadian Dollar (CAD) | 0.0% | −1.2% |
| 9 | Hungarian Forint (HUF) | −0.5% | +4.4% |
| 10 | Norwegian Krone (NOK) | −0.7% | +8.1% |
| 11 | Australian Dollar (AUD) | −0.7% | +7.3% |
| 12 | Polish Zloty (PLN) | −1.0% | −4.6% |
| 13 | Swiss Franc (CHF) | −1.1% | −2.9% |
| 14 | Czech Koruna (CZK) | −1.4% | −1.9% |
| 15 | Swedish Krona (SEK) | −2.1% | −5.8% |
| 16 | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) | −2.7% | +0.3% |
Monthly figures compare two closing rates, so they hide what happened in between. The Norwegian krone, for example, was up 1.2% on 9 September and still ended the month in the red. The dashboard shows the daily path for any period.
The yen had its best month since 2024
Most of the yen's gain came early. By 8 September it had strengthened past 154 per dollar, its strongest level since late February, as traders bet that the Bank of Japan would raise rates at its meeting on 18 September. That came after a summer in which Japan and the United States intervened together to stop the yen's slide.
The Bank of Japan did hike, to 1.25%, in a 7 to 2 vote. The yen still fell 1.1% against the basket that day, its biggest one-day loss of the month. The hike had been widely expected, and Governor Kazuo Ueda's signals about the next one were mixed. The dip didn't last. The yen recovered over the last two weeks, with Japanese officials saying the weak currency was a problem, and closed the month at its high.
One strong month doesn't undo the year, though. Over 12 months the yen is still down 4.0%, 15th of 16. Our piece on why the yen has been so weak in 2026 explains the rate gap behind that.
The Fed hike that worked
On 16 September the Federal Reserve raised its target range by a quarter point, to 3.75% to 4.00%. It was the Fed's first increase since 2023, the vote was 12 to 0, and the statement said inflation "remains elevated". The US dollar rose 2.3% against the basket in September, its best month since June. Nearly all of it came in the second half: on 11 September the dollar was still slightly down for the month, and it finished at its high on the 30th. Against the dollar, the euro lost about 2.1%.
The dollar's month also explains two names near the top of the table. The Ukrainian hryvnia and the Russian ruble each lost only about 0.3% against the dollar in September, so when the dollar rose against everything else, they rose with it. Their gains of 1.9% and 2.0% say more about the dollar than about Ukraine or Russia. It's a common trap with a basket index: a currency can climb the ranking just by staying close to the one that's moving. Our dollar explainer covers how a single exchange rate and a basket can tell different stories.
Hikes that didn't help: New Zealand, Australia, Norway
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised its rate to 2.75% on 2 September, its second hike in a row. It also said it would remove stimulus gradually, which markets took as a slower path of further hikes than they had expected. The New Zealand dollar fell 0.9% against the basket that day and kept sliding: it closed every week of the month lower than the week before. Against the US dollar it lost about 4.6%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate to 4.60% on 30 September, its fourth hike of 2026. The Australian dollar slipped anyway in the final days of the month and finished September down 0.7%. Over 12 months it is still the strongest of the 16, up 8.2%, as our 2026 ranking shows.
Norges Bank raised its policy rate to 4.50% on 23 September and said it was prepared to go further if needed. The krone lost ground in the following week and closed the month down 0.7%. For 2026 as a whole it is still in first place, up 8.1%.
Sweden, Czechia and Switzerland
The Swedish krona fell 2.1%, its weakest month since June. Most of the drop came in the second week of September, well before the Riksbank kept its rate at 1.75% later in the month. In 2026 the krona is now the weakest of the 16 currencies, down 5.8%.
The Czech koruna lost 1.4%, its worst month since June 2024. The Czech National Bank kept its rate at 3.75% in mid-September and sounded less hawkish than markets had expected.
The Swiss franc fell 1.1% and has not gained in any month since February. The Swiss National Bank kept its rate at 0% on 24 September and noted that the franc had weakened. The Polish zloty (−1.0%) and the Hungarian forint (−0.5%) also ended the month lower.
A flat euro in the middle
The European Central Bank raised rates on 10 September for the second time this year, taking its deposit rate to 2.50%. The euro ended September exactly where it started against the basket. The Danish krone, pegged to the euro, did the same, and Danmarks Nationalbank raised its rate on the same day to stay in step. The British pound gained 0.2% after the Bank of England held at 3.75% on 17 September, and the Canadian dollar finished flat.
The year so far
Little changed at the top. For 2026 so far the Norwegian krone (+8.1%), the Australian dollar (+7.3%) and the Hungarian forint (+4.4%) still lead, and the Swedish krona (−5.8%) and the Polish zloty (−4.6%) are still at the bottom. The biggest shift was the yen's: down 1.7% for the year at the end of August, up 2.4% a month later.
How these numbers are calculated: exchange rates come from the ECB's daily euro reference rates, with the hryvnia taken from the National Bank of Poland's tables and the ruble from the Bank of Russia. Each day, a currency's move is compared with each of the other 15 and averaged, so the result shows how it did against the whole group rather than against one partner. The figures are nominal, not adjusted for inflation. More detail in what a currency strength index is.