TOKYO: The euro recovered some losses against the dollar in Asia Friday after slipping below $1.800 for the first time in more than nine years, while traders await the release of US jobs figures later in the day.
In Tokyo, the single currency rose to $1.1808 from $1.1754 in New York. The last time it was below $1.800 was December 2005. It weakened to 140.89 yen Friday from 141.15 yen in US trade.
The unit has taken a hammering in recent sessions as investors bet the European Central Bank will unveil a bond-buying scheme -- known as quantitative easing (QE) -- just as the US Federal Reserve considers raising interest rates.
"Poor economic data out of Europe continues to fuel speculation that (ECB chief Mario) Draghi will introduce some form of policy easing at the January 22 meeting," National Australia Bank said.
This week saw the release of data showing consumer prices fell in December for the first time in more than five years, fuelling fears the eurozone is on the cusp of a deflationary spiral. And on Thursday Germany said its factory orders fell 2.4 percent in November, more than the 0.8 percent fall expected.
"It does appear that quantitative easing is more likely sooner than later," Ken Dickson, an Edinburgh-based director of foreign exchange at Standard Life Investments, told Bloomberg News
The dollar eased to 119.32 yen from 119.65 yen in New York, despite growing expectations for strong US payroll figures later in the day.
Analysts said the jobs report was likely to confirm the strength in the world's top economy with some 245,000 jobs created, pushing the official unemployment rate down a notch to 5.7 percent.
"There aren't many reasons for the dollar to trend lower," said Daisuke Karakama, chief market economist at Mizuho Bank.
"Even if the labour report turns out to be bad, we shouldn't expect the dollar to fall below 118 yen."
The dollar weakened against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It fell to 62.35 Indian rupees from 63.10 rupees on Thursday, to 12,636.00 Indonesian rupiah from 12,719.30 rupiah, to Sg$1.3358 from Sg$1.3383, to 44.96 Philippine pesos from 45.05 pesos, to Tw$31.94 from Tw$31.99, and to 32.86 Thai baht from 32.90 baht.
The Australian dollar rose to 81.38 US cents from 81.10 cents. The Chinese yuan slipped to 19.21 yen from 19.25 yen.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.