US Dollar Drops Versus Yen As Jobs Gains Trail Forecast; Euro Falls

NEW YORK: The US dollar dropped against the yen as a private report showed US companies added fewer jobs in January than forecast, adding to signs of an uneven US economic recovery.

The euro traded at almost a 10-week low versus Japan’s currency as retail sales in the region slumped and amid speculation the European Central Bank will hold down interest rates. The yen gained against all 24 emerging-markets currencies tracked by Bloomberg on haven demand. Ukraine’s hryvnia gained for the first time in four days after dropping as much as 1.1 per cent on concern the nation is running out of currency reserves. The US nonfarm payroll report is due February 7.

“Dollar is trading pretty poorly — the data wasn’t that weak, but the market is reacting negatively to it,” Charles St-Arnaud, a foreign-exchange strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc, said in a phone interview. “The concern is why the economy seems to be slowing down. Investors will be keen to use the resources they have with the NFP numbers to decide their strategies for the next few weeks.”

The dollar fell 0.5 per cent to 101.15 yen at 9.04am New York time, following a 0.7 per cent gain yesterday, the most since Jan. 14. Japan’s currency climbed 0.5 per cent to 136.74 against the euro after appreciating to 136.23 yesterday, the strongest since November 22. Europe’s common currency was little changed at US$1.3516.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index traded at 1,027.62 after two days of losses. The index tracks the value of the greenback against its major peers, including the euro, the yen and the Canadian dollar.

(Source:  MalaysianDigest)