 Dollar index edges up, but poised for losing month
Reuters - 4/28/2017 8:57:21 AM
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The dollar edged up in Asian trading on Friday but was on track for a losing month against a basket of currencies, while the euro shed some of its monthly gains after the European Central Bank maintained its easing bias.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged up 0.1 percent to 99.193 .DXY, but down 0.8 percent for the week and 1.2 percent for April.
The euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.0865 EUR=, but up 1.3 percent for the week and 2 percent for the month.
ECB chief Mario Draghi said on Thursday after the central bank's policy meeting that removal of the bank's easing bias was not discussed, stressing the barriers the ECB still faces before beginning to tighten its ultra-loose financing conditions.
However, he also said that euro zone's recovery was increasingly solid and downside risks had diminished.
Against its Japanese counterpart, the dollar was steady on the day at 111.30 yen JPY=, up 2 percent for the week but still down 0.1 percent for the month.
"The Japanese Golden Week holidays are ahead, and investors have already adjusted their positions," said Kaneo Ogino, director at foreign exchange research firm Global-info Co in Tokyo.
Tokyo markets will be closed for three days from May 3 for a string of holidays known as the Golden Week, and some market participants take additional time off.
"Because of the holidays, we're not seeing the usual Japanese profit-taking or exporter selling on the dollar's rise, though some investors are still hoping for a chance to buy the dollar on dips," Ogino said.
On Thursday, the BOJ kept monetary policy unchanged as expected, but offered its most optimistic assessment of the economy in nine years, signaling its confidence that a pick-up in overseas demand will help sustain an export-driven recovery.
Japanese economic data released early in the session showed Japan's core consumer prices rose at a slower than expected pace in March from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, but posted their third straight month of increase, driven by rising energy costs.
The dollar was steady against the Swedish crown at 8.8422 crowns per dollar SEK=, having jumped on Thursday after Sweden's Riksbank extended its bond-buying and predicted its first interest rate hike in mid-2018, later than previously projected.
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