MW: Dollar treads water vs. rivals ahead of jobs data
By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The dollar pared an earlier gain against the yen Friday, and generally stayed in narrow ranges against major counterparts as investors awaited key U.S. jobs data later in the day.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect the data to show the economy added 85,000 private-sector jobs, but total employment could fall because the government reduced the number of temporary U.S. Census workers. See preview of jobs report.
The dollar (USDYEN 82.3100, -0.0100, -0.0122%) was buying ¥82.40, compared with ¥82.39 in late North American trading Thursday. See more tools and data on currency trading.
The yen briefly weakened early in the session, after Japan’s Ministry of Finance released current account data showing China sold a net ¥2.018 trillion ($25.59 billion) worth of Japanese assets in August, selling back most of the net ¥583 billion it bought in July and the ¥2.3 trillion it bought in the first half of the year. Read more on China selling yen assets.
Also early Friday, Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed that the government would take “decisive action, including intervention, if necessary,” to curb yen strength, after the dollar fell to a fresh 15-year low of ¥82.11 Thursday on the EBS trading platform.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations will to meet in Washington later Friday, and currencies are likely to be a key topic. But Noda told a press conference that “Japan’s stance on foreign exchange issues will not change either before or after the (G-7) meeting.”
The dollar index (DXY 77.48, +0.09, +0.11%) a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, was at 77.461, compared with 77.462 late Thursday.
The euro (EURUSD 1.3905, -0.0015, -0.1078%) bought $1.3908, compared with to $1.3914.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was buying 97.99 U.S. cents, after rising as high as 99.20 cents Thursday, and many analysts believe the Aussie is on track to reach parity with the greenback for the first time since July 28, 1982. Read more on investment implications of Australian dollar's rise against greenback.
