US Dollar Edges Up Against Majors After Economic Data
The US dollar traded higher against major currencies following the release of ISM service sector index and ADP employment change data during New York morning trading on Wednesday. The greenback climbed to new multi-week high versus the yen during the same period.
Today morning, the Institute for Supply Management released its report on service sector activity in the month of January, showing that the index of activity in the sector indicated an expansion compared to a downwardly revised reading for the previous month indicating contraction.
The ISM said its service sector index edged up to 50.5 in January from a downwardly revised 49.8 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to rise to 51.0 from the 50.1 originally reported for the previous month.
According to a report released by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) today, the non-farm private employment fell by 22,000 jobs in January following a revised decrease of 61,000 jobs in December. Economist had been expecting employment to decrease by about 30,000 jobs compared to the loss of 84,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
After ticking down to new multi-day lows of 1.4028 against the euro, 1.0500 versus the Swiss franc and 1.6072 versus the British pound in early European session, the greenback reversed its direction during New York morning deals today. At around 10:45 am ET, the greenback climbed to 1.5920 against the pound, 1.0603 versus the franc and 1.3905 versus the euro, which may be compared to yesterday’s closing values of 1.5976, 1.0551 and 1.3965, respectively.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar also surged up in today’s New York morning session and hit a new multi-week high of 91.11 by about 10:20 am ET. The greenback-yen pair that closed Tuesday’s New York session at 90.39, is now worth 90.98.
The US currency also advanced against other major opponents and hit new highs of 1.0633 against the Canadian dollar, 0.7072 versus the NZ dollar and 0.8818 against the Aussie.
