Japan’s finance minister indicates no plan to curb yen’s fall
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — The dollar pulled back against the Japanese currency and other rivals Tuesday, although strategists said the psychologically important 100-yen level remains likely to fall in the wake of Japan’s aggressive monetary-stimulus efforts.
The U.S. dollar USDJPY -0.53% changed hands at ÂĄ98.92 in recent action after climbing to a four-year high at ÂĄ99.65, according to FactSet, compared with ÂĄ99.21 in North American trade late Monday.
“With no major news behind the pullback, this is likely to be a pause before further gains” for dollar/yen, said Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.
She said the dollar’s overall pullback shows market participants were unswayed by upbeat comments on the U.S. economy by St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard. He told CNBC that last week’s softer-than-expected March nonfarm payrolls report hadn’t changed his outlook on the U.S. economy.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.30% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, fell to 82.456 from 82.752.
The WSJ Dollar Index XX:BUXX +0.03% , which uses a slightly larger comparison basket, was little changed, edging up to 73.62 from a Monday close of 73.60.
In other currency moves Tuesday, the Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.65% rose against the U.S. dollar after Chinese consumer inflation data for March came in below expectations, while wholesale prices fell.
The Aussie rose to $1.0486, up from $1.0427 just ahead of the Chinese data and above $1.0406 late Monday. China is Australia’s largest trading partner, making the Aussie sensitive to Chinese economic news.
China’s consumer price index rose 2.1% from a year earlier, compared with the 2.4% rise projected in a Dow Jones Newswires survey. The result was significantly lower than February’s rise of 3.2%, but was still above January’s 2% inflation rate.
Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.
