Currency Updates:
The US dollar (USD) appeared strong versus a basket of currencies ahead of the Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) release later today at 12:30 GMT. Following a disappointing ADP employment report – a good forecaster of the NFP – on Wednesday, market participants are growing more bearish towards the US labor market. Against the Canadian dollar (CAD), the greenback climbed to 0.9880 from 0.9866. Versus the Japanese yen (JPY), the US dollar slightly rose to 80.22 from 80.12 as the 80.00 figure has been acting as a support area over the past few days.
The euro (EUR) recorded gains against most of its major counterparts as the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its lending rate unchanged at 1.00%. As this was what the market expected, investors immediately turned their attention to the press conference that followed. ECB President Mario Draghi was less dovish than anticipated and promoted a sense of unanimity within the central bank, improving market sentiment. Against the Brittish pound, the single currency had a volatile ride plunging to 0.8102 – a near 2-year record low – from its open at 0.8120 but managed to close in a slightly positive area at 0.8124.
The Australian dollar (AUD) dropped – for a fourth consecutive day – to 1.0263 from 1.0304 against the US dollar, in anticipation of the monetary policy statement by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) earlier today. In its statement, the nation’s central bank cut growth and inflation forecasts citing weak job and housing markets.
Oil prices plunged to 102.21 from 104.93 dollars a barrel. Gold (XAU) dropped to 1635.73 from 1651.90 US dollars an ounce. Against the euro, gold plummeted to 1243.87 from 1257.37 euro an ounce. Silver (XAG) moved down to 30.1163 from 30.5878 dollars an ounce.
