CURRENCIES: Dollar Down Vs. Yen And Pound Ahead Of Jobs Report
By Lisa Twaronite
The dollar edged down against the yen and British pound in Asian trading
Friday, while staying nearly flat against the euro as investors awaited key U.S.
jobs data later in the session.
According to forecasts, nonfarm payrolls probably fell for the 22nd straight
month in October, economists said ahead of Friday's report from the Labor
Department. The report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
The unemployment rate likely rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 9.9%,
which would be the highest in 26 years. Some analysts are predicting a jobless
rate of 10% or even slightly higher in October.
"It is probably too early to confidently trade negative payrolls surprises as
U.S. dollar-negative and positive payrolls surprises as U.S. dollar-bullish.
Recent price action shows that FX is still heavily dependent on equities, and as
such, we would expect that a worse-than-expected NFP outcome would be USD
bullish," said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist RBC Capital Markets, in
emailed comments.
The dollar bought 90.45 yen, down from 90.73 yen in late North American
trading Thursday.
The euro was buying $1.4872, a few ticks below $1.4874 late Thursday, and the
British pound was trading at $1.6605, above $1.6581.
The Australian dollar was buying 91.45 U.S. cents, up 0.5%
Australia's central bank raised its inflation and economic-growth forecasts
Friday, and hinted at more interest-rate tightening ahead.
On Thursday, the U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen while rising
against the euro, with foreign-exchange traders playing off the European Central
Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged and the Bank of England's move
to boost its quantitative-easing program.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-06-090357ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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