By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The dollar edged lower Thursday in Asian trading hours, as the clock ticked down to a crucial summit of European leaders, due to start later in the global trading day.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.34% traded at 82.389, down from 82.585 in late North American trading on Wednesday.
In Asian trading, “a modest offered tone to the U.S. dollar dominated,” said Sue Trinh, strategist at RBC Capital Markets.
“There was a dearth of meaningful data or news, but the price action was consistent with downside risk to consensus forecasts for U.S. second quarter [gross domestic product] stemming from the weaker-than-expected core shipments component of the durable goods report yesterday,” Trinh said, referring to GDP data also due later in the day.
But “all eyes are on the two-day European Union summit starting today, where policy makers are expected to announce a road map to more fiscal and bank integration,” said foreign-exchange strategists at Credit Agricole.
“Sentiment in the market has been mixed, but expectations for a disappointment seem to be higher. Therefore, any positive news from the summit — especially on a plan for banking supervision or crisis resolution — will likely support the euro, at least for the short term,” the strategists said.
The euro EURUSD +0.33% lost ground in pre-summit trade, falling to $1.2514 from $1.2465 in late trading on Wednesday.
The British pound GBPUSD +0.31% reached $1.5592, up from $1.5565 late Wednesday.
Against the Japanese yen USDJPY -0.38% , the dollar bought ÂĄ79.38, down from ÂĄ79.75 in late trading Wednesday.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
