By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The dollar was steady against its Japanese counterpart in Asian trading Wednesday, but lost ground against the euro on continued perceptions that the U.S. Federal Reserve is headed for another round of quantitative easing.
September minutes from the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee released Tuesday showed several members wanted to resume buying large amounts of long-term government bonds soon.
Trade data from China Wednesday showed a smaller surplus in September, as both imports and exports fell from the previous year, though both remained relatively robust. See more on China trade.
“The data highlight continued recovery of foreign demand for Chinese products,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole CIB.
The dollar (USDYEN 81.8500, +0.0700, +0.0856%) bought 81.89 yen, down from ¥81.90 in late North American trading on Tuesday. See real-time currency data and tools.
The dollar index (DXY 77.07, -0.30, -0.38%) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, fell to 77.101, from 77.375 late Tuesday.
The euro (EURUSD 1.3975, +0.0062, +0.4456%) fell to $1.3973 from to $1.3910 late Tuesday and the British pound (GBPUSD 1.5849, +0.0047, +0.2974%) rose to $1.5854 from $1.5784.
