FX Roundup: Dollar retreats ahead of crucial jobs data

The dollar retreated to yet lower levels against a basket of global currencies on Thursday, while the pound sterling registered decent gains in European trading.

At 1632 BST, the pound was up 0.15% against the greenback, changing hands at $1.5151, and up 0.03% against the euro exchanging at €1.3529, with the Bank of England nearing its latest Monetary Policy Committee due a week on Thursday. The cable was also rose against the Swiss franc changing hands CHF1.47630 up 0.24%.

Meanwhile, the dollar lost ground with the US non-farm payrolls report due on Friday as the US Federal Reserve looks for signs of improvement in the labour market before raising interest rates.

The Labor Department report is expected by analysts to show that US employers added 202,000 jobs in September, which would mark a pick-up from the previous month’s 173,000. The unemployment rate is projected to remain at 5.1% in September.

September’s figures may influence this month’s Fed decision on interest rates. Chairwoman Janet Yellen has said a rate hike is expected by the central bank this year. The Fed meets on 27-28 October and in December. The dollar fell 0.19% against the yen to change hands JPY119.6500.

The greenback also traded lower against the commodities-linked Canadian dollar and Norwegian Krone, by 0.65% and 0.95% changing hands at CAD$1.3227 and NOK8.4348 respectively.

Kit Juckes, head of forex at Societe Generale, said, the bias of investors in North America is marginally to look for some respite from the weakness in Q4. “Clarity about the Fed, and Chinese currency policy, may be needed, as well as some sign that the swoon in global manufacturing is abating. This all points to an edgy start to the month especially ahead of tomorrow's US data.”

Selected emerging market and commodities-linked currencies continued to struggle against the greenback, with US currency rising against the Singapore dollar (up 0.53%), Thai baht (up 0.33%), Indonesian rupiah (up 0.26%) and Malaysian ringgit (up 0.27%).

Elsewhere, late afternoon European trading saw the Australian dollar rise against its US counterpart for a third successive session, clawing back another 0.54% to change hands at US$0.7056. Concurrently, the New Zealand dollar also rose 0.33% against the greenback changing hands at US$0.6420.