Forex
Investing.com – The U.S. dollar traded lower against most of its major rivals during Friday’s Asian session as traders tried to establish exactly what the Federal Reserve’s next move will be with regards to tapering of its quantitative easing program.
In Asian trading Friday, EUR/USD inched up 0.01% to 1.3383 after Germany reported that June exports were up 0.6% from the previous month, better than expected, though the report did point out that imports fell 0.8%, sparking concerns over weakening domestic demand. Germany is the euro zone’s largest economy.
GBP/USD nudged up 0.01% to 1.5541. Sterling hit a 7-week high against the dollar on Wednesday as investors avoided the greenback to await fresh signs from the Federal Reserve over when the U.S. central bank will announce plans to taper stimulus measures.
Earlier this week, London-based Markit Economics reported that the U.K. services purchasing managers’ index rose to 60.2 from 56.9 in June, well above economists’ expectations for a reading of 57.2.
USD/JPY inched up 0.01% to 96.72 after the Bank of Japan said that Japan’s M2 money supply 3.7% last month from 3.8% in June. Analysts expected the M2 money supply to remain unchanged at 3.8% for July.
In a separate report, METI said that Japan’s tertiary industry activity index fell to -0.3% last month from 1.3% in June. Analysts had expected Japanese tertiary industry activity index to fall -0.2% last month.
In U.S. economic news out Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 5,000 last week to 333,000. The less volatile four-week moving average dropped to 335,500, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2007.
USD/CHF fell 0.06% to 0.9198 while USD/CAD inched down 0.03% to 1.0326.
AUD/USD continued its bullish ways, rising 0.15% to 0.9118. NZD/USD fell 0.15% to 0.7997 while the U.S. Dollar Index inched down 0.02% to 81.06.
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