By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar dipped on Friday, the last trading day of the first quarter, while the Japanese yen and the euro bounced higher.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.40% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded at 78.842, down from 79.176 in late North American trading on Thursday.
“Month-end, quarter-end and Japanese fiscal year-end flows continue to dominate, with U.S. dollar weakness and Japanese yen strength the main themes,” said Sue Trinh, strategist at RBC Capital Markets.
Against the Japanese yen USDJPY -0.5670% , the dollar traded at ÂĄ82.00, down from ÂĄ82.45 in late trading Thursday.
The euro EURUSD +0.4725% rose to $1.3347 from $1.3294 late Thursday, a day when Spanish workers staged a nationwide strike over austerity measures ahead of the government’s presentation of its latest budget plans. Read more on Spanish budget.
Euro-zone finance leaders were set to meet later Friday. Reports this week have suggested that the region’s bailout fund may be increased.
However, Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said Friday: “If European Union leaders think that their plan to boost the bailout fund, by using monetary gymnastics, to a total of €740 billion, will somehow persuade markets that they are starting to get on top of the current crisis, then they could well be in for a rude awakening, despite the single currency’s rally in Asia.”
The British pound GBPUSD +0.2058% reached $1.5980, up slightly from $1.5940 late Thursday.
The Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.1987% edged up to $1.0395, from $1.0368, but continued to hover near 2012 lows.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
