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Forex - USD/JPY gains as housing data outshine Fed murkiness

Published 09/24/2013, 02:24 PM
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Investing.com - The dollar was up against the yen on Tuesday after investors overlooked conflicting comments from Federal Reserve officials and favored the greenback after U.S. home-price data met expectations and rekindled expectations for monetary stimulus programs to unwind soon.

In U.S. trading on Tuesday, USD/JPY was trading at 98.92, up 0.07%, up from a session low of 98.48 and off a high of 99.18.

The pair was likely to find support at 97.77, Wednesday's low, and resistance at 99.67, Friday's high.

The dollar fell last week after the Fed made no changes to its USD85 billion bond-buying program, as many investors were expecting the U.S. central bank to trim the total by USD10 billion or more.

Late last week and early this week, however, conflicting statements from monetary officials have made it unclear when the Fed will begin scaling back its bond-buying program, though an underlying consensus exists that tapering will begin this year.

On Friday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the Fed could decide at its October monetary policy meeting to taper its USD85 billion monthly asset-purchasing program, which keeps the greenback weak to spur recovery.

The Federal Reserve will hold its next monetary policy meeting Oct. 29-30 but is not due to hold a press conference that day, which left many expecting a decision to taper asset purchases to come in December before Bullard's comments.

On Monday, however, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said monetary authorities want to be sure recovery is sustained before dismantling stimulus programs.

Separately, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, a noted policy hawk, said on Monday the decision to keep the Fed's bond-buying program unchanged has damaged the institution's credibility.

The dollar  saw only slight headwinds after soft consumer sentiment data hit the wire earlier Tuesday.

The Conference Board’s index of U.S. consumer confidence ticked down to 79.7 in September from 81.8 in August.

Analysts were expecting the figure to dip to 79.9.

Solid housing data bolstered the greenback over the yen.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 12.4% on year in July, in line with market expectations.

The yen, meanwhile, was up against the pound and up against the euro, with GBP/JPY down 0.18% and trading at 158.33 and EUR/JPY trading down 0.04% at 133.34.

In Europe earlier, data revealed that German business confidence improved in September though not in line with expectations.

The German Ifo business climate index ticked up to 107.7 from 107.6 in August, the highest level since March 2012 though still below expectations for a reading of 108.2.

The single currency also remained under pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Monday the bank is ready to inject a third round of liquidity into the region’s banks if needed, in order to safeguard the bloc’s recovery.

On Wednesday, the U.S. is to release data on durable goods orders, a leading indicator of production, in addition to a report on new home sales.









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