Dollar Pressured by Week Ahead

With a week ahead chock full of economic data points which includes monetary policy decisions from both the European Central Bank, Bank of England and the Federal Reserve as well as U.S. non-farms payroll data and Chinese manufacturing figures, the U.S. Dollar was caught flatfooted during early Asian trade, with negative momentum continuing from last week. Though analysts don't expect policy changes from any of the world's key central banks, investors will look for clues regarding forward guidance. In particular, the Fed decision and the press conference which follows will give market players a hint as to the Fed's timing for the withdrawal of some of the quantitative easing measures which have long been in place.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which lost 1.2% of its value last week, was 0.14% lower and trading at 81.544 .DX, very close to the Index's 200-day moving average. The Index is generally used by forex investors to gauge the greenback's strength against its major peers. The EUR/USD pair was also sitting just below the recently struck 5-week high at $1.3293 while the USD/JPY pair traded at 97.86 Yen, only a few pips from a recently hit 1-month low.