Market Commentary and Intraday News

U.S. Dollar Weakens Against Majors

273 days ago

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar declined against its major counterparts in Asian trading on Tuesday as investors bought risky assets on hopes for an action by the European Central Bank to contain the debt crisis.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to meet some of the leaders of the currency bloc this week to request an extension of its fiscal consolidation program. Samaras is expected to put forward a request for a two-year extension for the country's fiscal adjustment program.

Investors are also focusing on the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July 31st-August 1st meeting, which is due for release on Wednesday.

The dollar slipped to 4-day lows of 79.28 against the yen and 1.5732 against the pound. The next downside target level for the dollar is seen at 1.575 against the pound and 79.0 against the yen. The pound-dollar and the dollar-yen pairs were worth 1.5713 and 79.42, respectively at yesterday's close.

The US dollar also dropped to a 4-day low of 0.9876 against the Canadian dollar, compared to 0.9885 hit late New York Monday. If the greenback slides further, it will break last week's multi-month low of 0.9863.

The U.S. dollar edged down to a 4-day low of 1.0489 against the Australian dollar too. On the downside, 1.054 is seen as the next target level for the greenback. At yesterday's close, the aussie-greenback pair was quoted at 1.0448.

The members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy board said that the uncertainty emanating from Europe suggests that the global economy will remain fragile in the near term, minutes from the bank's August 7 meeting revealed today.

The bank further noted that the global outlook has become more subdued than a few months ago, although growth in Australia remains close to trend.

At the meeting, the RBA held its benchmark cash rate unchanged at 3.50 percent for a second consecutive rate-setting meeting, saying it is too early to see the full impact of past policy easing.

The dollar fell to as low as 1.2363 against the euro, compared to yesterday's close of 1.2349. If the dollar weakens further, it will break near term support level of 1.237 and target the 1.240 level.

Against the Swiss franc, the dollar declined to 0.9718 from from yesterday's close of 0.9729. The near term support level for the dollar-franc pair is seen at 0.970.

Meanwhile, the US dollar weakened to 0.8113 against the New Zealand dollar and the next downside target level for the greenback is seen at 0.813. The kiwi-greenback pair ended yesterday's trading at 0.8089.

Inflation expectations among New Zealanders remained unchanged in the September quarter, the latest survey by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand showed today.

The median two-year ahead inflation expectations was unchanged at 2.5 percent. The median one-year expectations was also steady at 2 percent. Meanwhile, mean expectations of the two-year series decreased by a larger amount, falling from 2.41 percent last quarter to 2.32 percent now.

Looking ahead, U.K. public finances data for July is expected at 4:30 am ET and Canada's wholesale sales data for June is due at 8:30 am ET.

Trading is expected to be thin in the coming hours as there are no other major economic reports due from Europe and the United States.

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