Currencies: Dollar Mixed in Range-Bound Trading
The dollar is mixed as trading remains tightly range-bound across most major currencies today. The European single currency slipped back a bit this morning after gaining for the last couple of days and hitting a two-week peak against the dollar.
The euro lost momentum today as it approached a key level around $0.8570, near its recent two-week highs against the dollar, and the currency lately had slipped back to $0.8502. The euro closed yesterday's session at $0.8545, with a net gain of $0.475 in the past week.
This morning's release of the U.S.
Producer Price Index
, which rose 0.1% last month, had little effect on dollar prices against other major currencies.
Confusing commentary out of Asia had the yen bouncing around price levels overnight.
Bank of Japan
chief Masaru Hayami said he saw no need for further monetary easing, despite Monday's weak GDP data and resurging fears that Japan may be slipping into its second recession in two years.
But a laundry list of public commentary from other central bank and government officials in Japan -- some saying easing is necessary and others saying it's not -- kept the yen range-bound, though it eventually gained a bit on both the euro and dollar. The euro was lately trading down to 103.62 yen per euro from 104.22 yen at yesterday's market close. The dollar slipped to 121.80 yen per dollar from 122.10 at last close.
The British pound was barely off yesterday's closing price of $1.3916, trading for $1.3922 after unexpectedly strong U.K. May retail sales data was released this morning.
The U.S. currency gained against both the Canadian and Australian dollars overnight. The Aussie coin was trading for $0.5256, down from $0.5294 at yesterday's close. The U.S. dollar crept up slightly to C$1.5188 from C$1.5163 yesterday.
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