U.S. Dollar Rises On Fed's Rate Hike Speculation
23 April 2015 - 3:49PM
RTTF2
The U.S. dollar strengthened against the other major currencies
in the Asian session on Thursday amid speculation about the Federal
Reserve's rate hike this year, in the wake of some upbeat economic
data from the U.S.
Data from the National Association of Realtors or NAR showed
that the existing home sales in the U.S. increased much more than
expected in March, jumping to its highest rate in 18 months.
NAR said existing home sales surged 6.1 percent to an annual
rate of 5.19 million in March from a revised 4.89 million in
February. Economists expected existing home sales to climb to a
rate of 5.05 million from the 4.88 million originally reported for
the previous month.
Some analysts expect the Fed to act in September of this
year.
The lingering Greek worries also raised the appeal of the
safe-haven currency. Wednesday, the U.S. dollar showed mixed
trading against its major rivals. While the U.S. dollar fell
against the Euro and the pound, it rose against the Yen and the
Swiss franc.
In the Asian trading today, the U.S. dollar rose to a 9-day high
of 120.08 against the yen, an 8-day high of 0.7564 against the NZ
dollar and a 2-day high of 1.0691 against the euro, from
yesterday's closing quotes of 119.89, 0.7664 and 1.0722,
respectively. If the greenback extends its uptrend, it is likely to
find resistance around 121.00 against the yen, 0.73 against the
kiwi and 1.04 against the euro.
Moving away from an early low of 0.9687 against the Swiss franc,
the greenback advanced to an 8-day high of 0.9718. The greenback
may test resistance near the 0.99 region.
The greenback edged up to 1.5014 against the pound, from
yesterday's closing value of 1.5033. On the upside, 1.45 is seen as
the next resistance levels for the greenback.
Against the Australia and the Canadian dollars, the greenback
edged up to 0.7718 and 1.2268 from yesterday's closing quotes of
0.7750 and 1.2235, respectively. It is likely to find resistance
near 0.75 against the aussie and 1.26 against the loonie.
Looking ahead, Swiss trade data for March is due to be released
at 2:00 am ET.
In the European session, PMI reports for April from major
European economies and U.K. public sector finance data and retail
sales data for March are slated for release.
At 3:45 am ET, European Central Bank board member Peter Praet is
expected to speak at the "World monetary conference" in Berlin.
In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week
ended April 18, U.S. Markit's manufacturing PMI for April and U.S.
new home sales data for March are set to be published.
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