Dollar holds steadier so far on the session

The dollar is keeping a little higher on the day but we’re still yet to get to the US PMI data later. So far, a slightly weaker French PMI data is weighing on the euro a bit while the yen is down after BOJ governor Ueda warned against “abnormal” moves in the Japanese bond market. Besides that, the overall market mood is fairly mixed as we look to the closing stages this week.

At the balance, the dollar is just a little on the softer side this week with EUR/USD backing off after another test of 1.0500 earlier in the day:

As for USD/JPY, the pair looked like it was bound for a firmer breakdown below 150.00 but is now driven back up. The low very early in the day touched 149.27, just shy of the 50.0 Fib retracement level of the swing higher since September of 149.22. But at the weekly close, it’s all about reaffirming whether or not there will be a break of the figure level. So, there’s that to work through later.

Besides that, GBP/USD is down 0.2% to 1.2647 currently even after a stronger UK retail sales report. The data might’ve surprised to the upside but it’s hardly reinvigorating when it followed from a rather disappointing stretch in Q4 last year.

Looking to commodity currencies, USD/CAD is marginally higher by 0.1% to 1.4193 while AUD/USD is down just a touch by 0.2% to 0.6385 currently.

Here are the weekly changes relative to the dollar as the benchmark:

• EUR -0.2%
• JPY +1.2%
• GBP +0.5%
• CHF flat
• CAD -0.1%
• AUD +0.6%
• NZD +0.5%

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.