The U.S. Dollar edged lower against the Japanese yen during the Asian trading session following economic news from the U.S. which showed that manufacturing activity struck a 3-month low last month, a level unseen in several years. On Friday, markets will be awaiting November’s official private sector payrolls report, and despite last month’s positive numbers, if it bolsters speculation that the U.S. economy is slowing the dollar will lose recent support. As reported at 11:35 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY pair was trading at 82.13 Japanese Yen, a loss of nearly 0.1% but off the session low of 82.04 Japanese Yen.
The common currency Euro also edged lower against the Yen and the U.S. Dollar following a bout of profit taking on Thursday. The EUR/JPY pair was trading at 107.15 Yen, dropping about 0.2% and well off Monday’s high of 107.67 Japanese Yen. The EUR/USD pair was trading at $1.3052, off of Monday’s high of $1.3076; more recently the pair was trading at $1.3056.
The Australian Dollar had also been steady before the announcement by the Reserve Bank of Australia of a 25 basis points rate cut earlier, but has since lost ground against the U.S. Dollar. The AUD/USD pair was higher after the announcement, trading at 1.0445, edging up from $1.0428.
Dollar Falls on Dismal Data
Barbara Zigah