The Asian session was relatively quiet due to the lack of market moving data. Risk sentiment was upbeat though as Wall Street swung higher and the S&P hit a record high yesterday. The Nikkei average climbed to a 4-week closing high.
The dollar is broadly lower after US economic data from Monday’s session was mostly weak, as Markit Services PMI posted a substantial drop in February, the National activity index from the Chicago Fed fell to a 7-month in January and the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index for February also dropped. Although none of the data was really market-moving, they do create some concerns that the US economy could hit a soft patch during the first half of the year- extreme cold weather notwithstanding.
The focus today will be on US data as markets look for more clues on the US economic recovery. Economic releases will be on consumer confidence and the house price index. The main event this week will be on Thursday when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks to the Senate Banking Committee in her semi-annual testimony about monetary policy.
The dollar ended the Asian session with a 0.02% loss against the yen at 102.45.
The euro traded in a small range against the dollar and ended the session up 0.07% at 1.3744. Yesterday the euro was pushed close to a 7-week high after strong German Ifo data. Next week’s ECB meeting will be a risk for the single currency.
Sterling traded around a 25-point range versus the dollar and ended with a 0.09% gain at 1.6671.
The Australian dollar edged down about 0.12% to 0.9024, falling from a 5-week high of 0.9081 hit a week ago.
The kiwi rose to a 1-week high at 0.8344 after the release of the RBNZ inflation expectations with the one-year series rising to 2.03% from 1.94% on a mean basis.
The Asian session was relatively quiet due to the lack of market moving data. Risk sentiment was upbeat though as Wall Street swung higher and the S&P hit a record high yesterday. The Nikkei average climbed to a 4-week closing high.
The dollar is broadly lower after US economic data from Monday’s session was mostly weak, as Markit Services PMI posted a substantial drop in February, the National activity index from the Chicago Fed fell to a 7-month in January and the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index for February also dropped. Although none of the data was really market-moving, they do create some concerns that the US economy could hit a soft patch during the first half of the year- extreme cold weather notwithstanding.
The focus today will be on US data as markets look for more clues on the US economic recovery. Economic releases will be on consumer confidence and the house price index. The main event this week will be on Thursday when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks to the Senate Banking Committee in her semi-annual testimony about monetary policy.
The dollar ended the Asian session with a 0.02% loss against the yen at 102.45.
The euro traded in a small range against the dollar and ended the session up 0.07% at 1.3744. Yesterday the euro was pushed close to a 7-week high after strong German Ifo data. Next week’s ECB meeting will be a risk for the single currency.
Sterling traded around a 25-point range versus the dollar and ended with a 0.09% gain at 1.6671.
The Australian dollar edged down about 0.12% to 0.9024, falling from a 5-week high of 0.9081 hit a week ago.
The kiwi rose to a 1-week high at 0.8344 after the release of the RBNZ inflation expectations with the one-year series rising to 2.03% from 1.94% on a mean basis.
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