TOKYO: The dollar was steady in Asia yesterday after a solid US jobs report for November boosted the chances of an early pullback on the Federal Reserve’s stimulus programme.
The dollar fetched 102.96 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, from 102.85 yen in New York on Friday.
The euro changed hands at $1.3702 and 141.08 yen against $1.3705 and 141.03 yen in New York.
On Friday, the Labor Department said the jobless rate dropped to a five-year low of 7.0 percent in November, from 7.3 percent in October. It also said the economy added a healthy 203,000 jobs.
The figures raised the chances of a wind down in the Fed’s $85bn-a-month bond-buying scheme, which it has said depended on the world’s biggest economy showing it can stand on its own two feet.
A rollback is seen as positive for the dollar.
“The US November employment report helped to reinforce expectations that the Fed will begin tapering soon, possibly as early as the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting in mid-December,” Credit Agricole said. “The jobs data followed on from several other firm US data releases over the week highlighting strengthening signs of recovery.”
Minori Uchida, chief currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, said that “the uptrend for the dollar/yen remains intact”. “But given its hasty rally over the past month, people are reluctant to keep pushing it up for now,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.
Official data yesterday showed Japan logged a surprise 127.9 billion yen deficit in its current account—the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world.
AFP
