Ammon News – The dollar was a touch lower on Monday as a soft US jobs report boosted wagers that the Federal Reserve may still cut rates this year, while the yen lurched lower after last week’s suspected intervention fueled a wild ride.
The yen last week clocked its strongest weekly gain since early December 2022 following two bouts of suspected intervention from Tokyo to pull the currency away from a 34-year low of 160,245 per dollar. It gained 3.5% in the week.
On Monday, the yen was lower, dropping 0.5% to 153.69 per dollar.
The more than 9 trillion yen that the Bank of Japan is estimated to have spent to prop up the frail yen last week has only bought it some time, analysts say, as the market still views the currency as a sell.
The yen has been under pressure as US interest rates have climbed and Japan’s have stayed near zero, driving cash out of yen and into higher-yielding assets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six others, was at 105.10, having touched a more than three-week low of 104.52 on Friday. The index is up nearly 4% this year but fell almost 1% last week.
The euro last fetched $1.0764, while sterling was up 0.2% at $1.25715 before a Bank of England policy announcement on Thursday, where interest rates are expected to be held at 5.25%.
Mainland China’s markets opened after being closed for three days last week. At that time, the offshore yuan had risen on the back of the dollar’s broad retreat.
The offshore yuan eased to 7.2194 per dollar, having gained more than 1% last week. In the spot market, the onshore yuan opened at 7.2009 per dollar, its strongest since March 25. It was last at 7.2149.
Reuters
Tags: Dollar soft renewed rate cut bets yen starts week foot Business
