The Euro edged higher against the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading today as a spate of hedge fund buying triggered stop-losses. As reported at 10:58 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at 1.2288, a gain of 0.14%, but had struck a session high of 1.2314 earlier. The U.S. Dollar Index, a gauge of the greenback’s worth relative to other major currencies, dropped to a 7-week trough, with losses exacerbated following yesterday’s release of unexpectedly poor retail sale data from the U.S. and was most recently trading at 83.026 .DXY.
An increase in risk appetite also helped to push the Aussie Dollar and other commodity-linked currencies higher; the AUD/USD was trading at 1.0295, a gain of 0.48% while the NZD/USD was trading higher at 0.7990, a gain of 0.18%. The safe haven Japanese Yen also fell out of favor with investors who expected that the Bank of Japan might intervene in the Yen’s rise; the Yen lost 0.3% against the Euro to trade at 97.04 Yen.
Focus will return in earnest to Washington, D.C., today where Ben Bernanke the Fed Chairman is set to take the chair and testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee. Analysts say that traders are preparing for Bernanke to hand down more dovish commentary, dashing all hopes of easing.