SINGAPORE: The euro gained in Asian trade Friday after the European Central Bank (ECB) slashed interest rates to a record low in a bid to spur economic growth in the debt-stricken eurozone.
The euro recovered from initial losses and was trading at $1.3074 in mid-morning Asian hours from $1.3063 in New York late Thursday. The single currency was also buying 128.10 yen from 127.93 yen.
The dollar was up to 97.99 yen from 97.93 yen.
Trading was light, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday.
On Thursday the ECB trimmed its key "refi" refinancing rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a new record low of 0.50 percent.
"The rate cut had been priced by traders prior to the announcement by the ECB, so we could be seeing a push back up with the euro," said Jason Hughes, head of sales trading at CMC Markets in Singapore.
"The talk of negative interest rates on deposits and that the ECB will consider such action is still relatively very vague and at an early stage, so it (market) is not really factoring in yet," he told AFP.
In a separate market commentary, Hughes noted that the ECB was "heavy on rhetoric but light on action, especially when compared to its peers".
Hughes said the US dollar should get a boost from expected positive news on the US jobs front when the non-payroll data is released later Friday.
The Labor Department is expected to report that the unemployment rate held steady at 7.6 percent, with job growth of 155,000, up from 88,000 the prior month.
Optimism is being buoyed by US labour market figures released Thursday showing that new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 18,000 to 324,000, the lowest level since mid-January 2008.
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