WSJ:Dollar Rises Ahead of U.S. Policy Meet, GDP Data
By KOSAKU NARIOKA
The dollar rose against other currencies Tuesday in Asia amid relatively subdued trading ahead of U.S. gross domestic product data and the outcome of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting later this week.
The greenback's rebound follows the hitting of one-month low against the yen on Monday. It also comes amid expectations among some traders that stocks will be lifted by the Fed's policy announcement on Wednesday.
"Short-term players had been trying to push the yen higher but the dollar didn't fall much further," said Michiyoshi Kato, senior vice president at forex sales at Mizuho Bank. "Stocks were weak and the yen was strong at the beginning of the week, but in their mind, they were envisioning a potential rebound in stocks and the yen's weakening following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting."
"It's a technical rebound (in the dollar)," said Kosuke Hanao, head of FX at HSBC HSBA.LN +0.66% in Tokyo.
The greenback was at ¥98.37 as of 0630 GMT from ¥97.95 late Monday in New York, according to EBS. The dollar had fallen as low as ¥97.63 on Monday.
Further helping the dollar's gains against other currencies, including the Australian dollar, were comments by Reserve Bank of Australia Gov. Glenn Stevens. He said further declines in the Aussie wouldn't come as a surprise. The Australian dollar was at $0.9078 from $0.9207.
The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar's worth against a basket of currencies, was at 74.131 from 73.908.
The U.S. unit is also higher against many Asian currencies. In Seoul, the dollar reversed two sessions of falls and rose to 1,112.2 South Korean won, compared with 1,110.5 won late Monday.
Market participants continued to speculate about when the Fed will start to slow its bond purchases and by how much, and are eager to latch on to any cues from the policy meeting outcome and key U.S. data later this week, including U.S. jobs data Friday.
"It's hard to take big bets before those events," said Osao Iizuka, head of FX trading at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
Also complicating the calculation is emerging speculation that Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, is a leading contender to take over as the Fed's chairperson after the term for current Chairman Ben Bernanke ends on Jan. 31. Janet Yellen, the Fed's current vice chair, has been and is still seen as another leading contender.
"The Fed under Summers would be much more hawkish," HSBC's Mr. Hanao said. "There are so many unknowns until we see economic figures in September and the outcome of the Fed's personnel matter."
The euro was at $1.3256 from $1.3263. The U.K. pound was at $1.5337 from $1.5354. The dollar was at 0.9318 Swiss francs from 0.9309 francs.