Credit: Investing.com - lethargic trade during Thursday's Asian session, the U.S. dollar was mixed against its major rivals as traders pondered the next move by U.S. policymakers regarding the fiscal cliff.
In Asian trading Thursday. EUR/USD gained 0.05% to 1.3232. The pair was likely to find support at 1.3159, Friday's low, and resistance at 1.3254, today's high.
GBP/USD fell 0.02% to 1.6135 in light holiday trade. British markets were closed Wednesday in observance of the boxing day holiday.
Holiday hangovers did not stop traders from focusing on the fiscal cliff. President Obama plans to return to Washington on Thursday in order to take part in talks to avert the crisis ahead of the year-end deadline, the White House said late Tuesday. The House and Senate are also expected to reconvene later today. That is none too soon for wary investors because the fiscal deadline is rapidly approaching.
U.S. politicians have until January 1, 2013 to enact a fiscal solution or risk putting the world's largest economy at risk of another recession at hands of $600 billion in expired tax reductions and spending cuts.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY jumped 0.19% to 85.80 as the yen continues to hover near 27-month lows against the dollar. Japanese equities are soaring on news of the weaker yen as some traders seem to be believing newly elected Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe will be able to effect legitimate change toward weakening the yen.
In U.S. economic news, S&P/Case-Shiller said that its home price index rose at an annualized rate of 4.3% in October from a year earlier, above expectations for a 4% increase. U.S. home prices in September rose by an unrevised 3.0%.
Month-on-month, U.S. home prices rose 0.7%, above expectations for a 0.5% increase, after rising by 0.4% in the preceding month. Those data points gave a lift against some of the other major currencies, but not all as USD/CHF fell 0.06% to 0.9130. USD/CAD slipped 0.13% to 0.9933.
Amid concerns about the fiscal cliff, the Australian dollar sank against the greenback as AUD/USD fell 0.13% to 1.0366. Not all riskier currencies were hurt by cliff fears though as NZD/USD gained 0.11% to 0.8208. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.04% to 79.67.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
