By: Barbara Zigah
The U.S. Dollar steadied against major currencies in Asian trading following yesterday’s release of an exceptional ADP employment report which showed that 297,000 non-farms related jobs were added to the payrolls in December, well above the 100,000 increase that economists had originally predicted. As reported at 2:37 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar traded against the Euro at $1.3141, as continuing Eurozone debt problems pressure the common currency.
Meanwhile, against the Japanese Yen, the greenback traded at 83.20 Yen, retreating somewhat from yesterday’s 1.5% gain. The Australian Dollar is continuing to struggle against the greenback, falling .2% to $0.9974 as investor concerns escalate over the widespread flooding in Queensland, which is likely to detrimentally affect coal production; Australia’s number one export is coal, and approximately 40% of the world’s supply was produced in Australia.
The U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the currency’s value versus several major currencies, held at 80.274 .DXY, well off last week’s low of 78.775 .DXY.
Traders will likely wait for this Friday’s release of the U.S. Labor Department’s non-farms payroll data, which was yesterday upwardly revised in light of the ADP numbers. The positive employment data, coupled with other encouraging signs of an improving U.S. economy, are supporting the U.S. Dollar.