US Dollar on Track to Post Weekly Loss

The dollar held on to narrow trading ranges. Still, it was heading towards a weekly loss against the major counterpart currencies, after negative data cast doubt on the economic outlook, while positive comments from the Minister of Finance in New Zealand helped support the country’s currency.

The dollar gave up the gains it made after the US Federal Reserve updated its economic outlook for a week, falling into negative territory on Thursday. The dollar, in its most recent transactions, scored 92.923 against a basket of major currencies and is heading for a loss of 0.3 percent for the week.

On Thursday, US data showed that jobless claims remained high at 860,000, while home construction activity decreased and a business index declined.

On Wednesday, the US central bank said it expected the US economy to contract far less than its previous forecast in 2020 and pledged to keep interest rates at a very low level for an extended period.

The dollar was little changed against the yen at 104.81, after hitting a seven-week high of 104.52 on Thursday.

In the week, the dollar fell by more than 1.2% against the Japanese currency, and is on track to record its biggest weekly decline since mid-June.

Against the euro, the yen hovered at a one and a half month high of 123.29, which it touched during the night, and is trading at 124.18.

The market has been in narrow ranges in Asia even though the New Zealand dollar hit a two-week high of $ 0.6785 after Finance Minister Grant Robertson sounded positive about the country’s recovery prospects in TV interviews.

The British pound bought 1.2959 dollars, after losing about a cent yesterday, Thursday, after the Bank of England said that it was closely looking into how it might apply negative interest rates in light of the high infection with the Corona virus, the rise in unemployment and the possibility of a new shock due to Britain’s exit from the European Union .

But the pound trimmed its losses later after the Financial Times reported that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was convinced that a trade deal with Britain was still possible.

Meanwhile, the euro is trading at 1.1849 per dollar today.

The Eurozone PMI data due for release next week will be under lights, as some analysts say that the release of strong data could bring the single currency back to 1.19 against the dollar.

The Australian dollar traded at 0.7310 US dollars, while the Swiss franc was last trading 0.9086 against the US currency.

The yuan in foreign transactions reached 6.7521 to the dollar, after hitting a high of 6.7332, and is heading towards gains for the eighth week.