The US Dollar Index, used by FX traders to gauge the weight of the greenback against major rivals, remained steady despite an unexpected uptick in US retail sales. Analysts say that investors took the news from the US Commerce Department in stride; the data showed that March's retail sales came in at 9.8%, well above the 5.9% increase that economists had predicted. It was also recently reported that initial unemployment claims fall to a 1-year low. What held back a rise in the greenback says currency strategists the fall in US Treasury yields, which lessened the greenback's relative attractiveness.
In Tokyo trading as of 9:20 am, the USD/JPY was trading at 108.6600 Yen, a loss of 0.05%, well off the session peak of 108.792 Yen. Looking at Asian currencies, the NZD/USD was higher at $0.7171, up 0.0405%; the pair has ranged from a low of $0.71622 to a high of $0.71797. The AUD/USD was lower at $0.7749, down 0.0516%, off the session peak of $0.77559. The US Dollar Index was lower at 91.68 .DXY, down 0.01%.
Chinese Data to Draw Market Focus
Markets are waiting for economic data out of China which could shift sentiment for the Asian currencies. Of note, first quarter GDP is due out, as well as industrial production figures and retail sales data for March. A recent poll of economists have predicted that annualized GDP will show a rise to 18.9% for the first quarter of 2021. Industrial production is predicted to come in at 17.2% on a year-over-year basis, while retail sales should be at 28%, lower than the previous reading. Market players are still anxious to see if the Chinese government has been able to recover from the repercussions of the Coronavirus.