Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was mixed against most of is
major rivals in Friday's Asian session following a mixed batch of
U.S. economic data points and lingering fears the policymakers will
not be able to solve the fiscal cliff before the fast-approaching
January 1, 2013 deadline.
In Asian trading Friday, EUR/USD rose 0.06% to 1.3247. The pair was
likely to find support at 1.3172, Wednesday's low, and resistance
at 1.3284, Thursday's high.
One of the major currencies that the greenback was seen higher
against was the yen as USD/JPY jumped 0.31% to 86.39. That gain
extends a considerable span of strength for the dollar against the
yen and could be a sign that the market is buying into Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's yen-weakening rhetoric.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD added 0.06% to 1.6111 while USD/CHF slid 0.09%
to 0.9127. USD/CAD gave up 0.05% to 0.9948.
The dollar was under pressure following a disappointing consumer
report in the U.S. on Thursday. In U.S. economic news, the
Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 65.1
this month from a downwardly revised 71.5 in November. Economists
expected a December reading of 70. The U.S. consumer accounts for
about 70 percent of GDP in the world's largest economy
The consumer sentiment reading overshadowed a decent weekly jobless
claims report. Initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 12,000
last week to 350,000. The less volatile four-week moving average
fell by 11,250 to 356,750. The U.S. unemployment rate is 7.7%.
Although comments from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada
Democrat, lead to steep losses for U.S. stocks and some other risky
assets for the bulk of Thursday's U.S. session, the fiscal cliff
fears are weighing on some of the so-called risk on currencies as
well.
In Asian trading Friday, AUD/USD is lower by 0.09% at 1.0369 while
NZD/USD is off 0.11% at 0.8202. The Dollar Index is higher by 0.03%
at 79.74.
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