The Asian Forex session featured a two-sided trade on Wednesday although the general tone still favored an upside bias for the U.S. Dollar against most major currencies. Earlier on Wednesday, the ANZ bank’s survey for August showed a net 15.5 percent of companies were optimistic about the coming year, which was fractionally lower than July.
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Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said early on Tuesday that the United States job market is close to full strength and it is impossible to say whether the next interest rate hike would be “one and done”, according to media reports. Employers are expected to have added 180,000 jobs in August, according to the median estimate of 89 economists polled by Reuters.
“Any signs of strength make investors worry that the Fed will accelerate their plans to raise interest rates”, said Alan Gayle, head of asset allocation at Atlanta-based RidgeWorth Investments.
The dollar, on the other hand, fared better against commodity currencies, which were hit by the sharp drop in crude oil prices.
In other action, the pound pushed higher after the Nationwide Building Society said United Kingdom house-price growth picked up slightly in August (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-home-prices-pick-up-despite-brexit-2016-08-31), in contrast with earlier signs that the housing market may be cooling following the country’s Brexit vote in June.
The Canadian dollar was last trading at C$1.3105 to the greenback, or 76.19 USA cents, weaker than Tuesday’s close of C$1.3096. The AUD/USD was under pressure on Wednesday, finishing at.7502, down 0.0006 or -0.08%.
ADP released USA private-sector jobs data today slightly above expectations of 175,000 and posted a 177,000. The Australian dollar held at $0.7521, after touching $0.7500 on Tuesday, its lowest since Aug.2. In Australia, the focus will be on capital expenditure and retail sales numbers both market sensitive releases due on Thursday.
UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 closed down 0.52 percent, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 ended the day down by 0.28 percent, Germany’s Dax ended down 0.45 percent, France’s CAC finished the day down by 0.17 percent.
Yields on benchmark US 10-year Treasury notes were little moved on Wednesday but notched their largest monthly gain in more than a year as strong USA data and limited volatility reduced the appetite for safe-haven US government debt. The dollar increased to 0.9840 Swiss francs from 0.9777 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3088 Canadian dollars from 1.3013 Canadian dollars.
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Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 was last up 0.63 percent, at 1,358.88. It rose almost 11 percent for August. It gained more than 7 percent for the month.
