Comments
Asian shares drifted while the dollar marked time on Friday ahead of the key US jobs report later in the session that could help it retake ground lost to the euro overnight.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 per cent, on track for a weekly loss of 0.8 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average slipped 0.2 per cent, but was on track for a weekly gain of more than 2 per cent.
Major Wall Street indexes inched down on Thursday, but the Dow Jones industrial average briefly rose to set a record intra-day high.
Payrolls data
The US nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show that employers added 230,000 new jobs last month, and the unemployment rate is seen remaining unchanged at 5.8 per cent, according to analysts polled by Reuters. The figures are scheduled for release at 1330 GMT.
“The US dollar has struggled to rally even on good US data recently so this could be the case again. Yet the multi-day/week outlook for USD remains positive,’’ Sean Callow, a currency strategist at Westpac, said in a note.
ECB stimulus
The dollar gave up ground against the euro on Thursday, after first ascending to a two-year peak of $1.2279, when the European Central Bank refrained from detailing any expansion of its stimulus programme.
But additional actions are still expected next year. In his clearest language yet, ECB President Mario Draghi underlined the central bank’s commitment to supporting the euro zone economy. Draghi also made the case for buying assets such as state bonds, a step opposed by Germany.
Euro vs dollar
The ECB’s lack of immediate action put a floor under the single currency and gave investors a reason to trim their short positions, sending the euro as high as $1.2457. It was last at $1.2383, steady on the day.
The greenback was flat against the yen at 119.79 yen after breaking above the 120-yen level on Thursday for the first time in over seven years, rising as high as 120.25.
Crude oil
Oil remained under pressure after Saudi Arabia announced deep cuts on Thursday to the prices it charges its Asian and US buyers, a week after refusing to support output cuts championed by some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
“It's another sign that they want to maintain production levels,’’ said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp.
US crude was down about 0.4 per cent at $66.54 a barrel, though it kept some distance from a five-year low of $63.72 hit a week ago.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.