Dollar steady after U.S. jobs data, nonfarm payrolls eyed

Published 11/01/2012, 09:12 AM
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Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained rangebound against the other major currencies on Thursday, following the release of stronger-than-expected U.S. employment data, as investors anticipated U.S. data on nonfarm payrolls on Friday and the U.S. presidential elections next week.

During European afternoon trade, the dollar turned lower against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.08% to 1.2970.

The euro came off session lows after the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. fell to 363,000 last week from 372,000 the previous week, compared to expectations for a decline to 370,000.

The data came on the heels of a report showing that the U.S. private sector added 158,000 jobs this month, surpassing expectations for an increase of 135,000.

Sentiment on the single currency remained weak amid uncertainty over when Spain may request a bailout and whether Greece will secure the next tranche of its bailout funding.

The greenback was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.15% to 1.6153.

Demand for the pound remained underpinned after data showed that the U.K. manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 47.5 in October from a reading of 48.4 in September, compared to expectations for a dip to 48.1.

Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.32% to 80.00, but slipped lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF losing 0.13% to trade at 0.9304.

The yen came under pressure as investors resumed selling the currency, following initial disappointment after the Bank of Japan’s easing on Tuesday.

The greenback was little changed against its Canadian, Australian counterparts, but was lower against the New Zealand dollar, with USD/CAD inching up 0.01% to 0.9994, AUD/USD edging up 0.09% to 1.0383 and NZD/USD rising 0.51% to trade at 0.8266.

The commodity linked dollars found some support after official data showed that China’s manufacturing PMI came in at 50.2 in October, up from 49.8 in September, just slightly below forecasts for a reading of 50.3.

A separate report showed that the final reading of China’s HSBC PMI came in at 49.5 in September, an eight month high.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, dipped 0.02% to 79.98.

Later in the day, the Institute of Supply Management was to publish data on U.S. manufacturing activity.



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