IV:Dollar hits session lows vs. euro, rallies vs. yen
Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was lower against the euro on Thursday, following a well-received auction of Spanish government debt, while the yen was lower against the greenback ahead of next week’s Bank of Japan policy meeting.
During European late morning trade, the greenback hit session lows against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.49% to 1.3353.
Spain’s Treasury sold EUR4.5 billion worth of debt, in line with the full targeted amount, while borrowing costs came down.
The yield on five-year bonds fell to 3.77%, down from 3.99% at a similar auction last week, while the yield on two-year bonds declined to 2.71%, compared to 3.35% at a similar auction last month.
Sentiment on the single currency had improved earlier in the session after a senior European Central Bank policymaker said Wednesday that the situation in the euro zone had stabilized and indicated that the bank was not concerned over the euro’s recent gains.
The dollar re-approached two-and-a-half-year highs against the yen, with USD/JPY rallying 0.99% to 89.24.
The yen weakened as renewed expectations for more aggressive easing steps by the BoJ at next Tuesday’s policy meeting weighed.
The greenback edged lower against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.09% to 1.6022.
Sentiment on the pound remained fragile after a recent string of weak economic data fuelled fears that the economy slipped back into a recession in the fourth quarter.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF edging up 0.03% to 0.9310.
The greenback was broadly higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD rising 0.20% to 0.9876, AUD/USD down 0.52% to 1.0516 and NZD/USD sliding 0.20% to 0.8393.
The Australian dollar came under pressure after official data showed that the Australian economy cut 5,500 jobs in December, disappointing expectations for a 4,500 increase, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.4% from 5.3% in November.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.15% to 79.71.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was to produce official data on building permits and housing starts, in addition to the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and data on manufacturing activity in Philadelphia.
