US Dollar exchange rates in decline; US eco data proves supportive as US jobless claims beat expectations

• 

Details

Category: US Dollar Exchange Rate

Published on Friday, 17 February 2012 10:57

Written by Rob Samson

The US dollar (Currency:USD) is on the back-foot this morning: the euro dollar exchange rate is 0.15% higher at 13152, the pound dollar exchange rate is 0.3% higher at 1.5847.

The familiar risk plays are firmly entrenched this morning, stronger equity and commodity markets reflect positive investor sentiment which has, predictably, seen the US dollar bid lower against higher yielding alternative currencies.

---

Advertisement - Article Continues Below

---

The decline comes after a few good sessions for the US dollar. The euro dollar pair reached an intraday low at 1.2974 at the start
of the US trading session.

"From there a steady rebound kicked in. The US eco data were quite supportive. Especially the US jobless claims came out better than expected. The market traded the improvement in sentiment on risk rather than cyclical rebound of the US. During the afternoon session, the news flow on Europe and on a Greek debt deal turned more positive, too. It were all rumours and diffuse headlines," says a morning foreign exchange rate note from KBC Markets.

Looking ahead, in the US, the CPI is scheduled for release. KBC don’t expect this report to be a big issue for EUR/USD trading.

On Thursday, the post-BoJ rally of USD/JPY continued unabated. Almost all news was considered USD/JPY supportive.

In Europe, the dollar profited from uncertainty on the Greek debt deal.

Later in the session, USD/JPY was the exception to a broadbased correction of the dollar as sentiment on risk improved. USD/JPY closed the session at 78.94, compared to 78.43 on Wednesday evening.