NEW YORK, Dec 2 — The US dollar lost in late trading on Friday, on dovish comments from Fed officials and lower-than-expected manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for November, reported Xinhua.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.22 per cent at 103.2734 in late trading.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported Friday that the manufacturing PMI remained steady at 46.7 in the previous month, which fell below forecast consensus of 47.5 and marked the 13th consecutive month where the PMI remained under 50, indicating a contraction in manufacturing. This duration of consecutive months below 50 represented the lengthiest stretch since the period spanning from August 2000 to January 2002.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday pushed back on market expectations for aggressive interest rate cuts ahead, calling it too early to declare victory over inflation. “It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease. We are prepared to tighten policy further if it becomes appropriate to do so.”
However, markets moved higher following Powell’s remarks, with major averages positive on Wall Street and the US Treasury yields sharply lower, dragging down the US dollar. “Markets view today’s comments as inching toward the dovish camp,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial.
In late New York trading, the euro was down to US$1.0872 from US$1.0890 in the previous session, and the British pound increased to US$1.2700 from US$1.2623 in the previous session.
Switzerland’s economy grew by 0.3 per cent during the third quarter, the government said on Friday, as the service sector helped offset stagnating manufacturing growth. Year on year, the Swiss economy grew 0.9 per cent, stronger than the 0.5 per cent forecast. The US dollar was down to 0.8694 Swiss francs from 0.8752 Swiss francs in late New York trading.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canada’s economy added a net 24,900 jobs for the month, and its unemployment rate rose to 5.8 per cent, in line with expectations. The US dollar was down to 1.3493 Canadian dollars from 1.3568 Canadian dollars, and it was down to 10.3762 Swedish kronor from 10.4931 Swedish kronor. The US dollar bought 146.8800 Japanese yen, lower than 148.1980 Japanese yen of the previous session.
