Source : Investing.com
The yen gained in early Asia on Monday with investors looking ahead to machinery orders data.
USD/JPY changed hands at 113.73, down 0.09%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7550, down 0.19%. EUR/USD was quoted at 1.1166, up 0.16%.
In Japan, core machinery orders for January are due with a 3.0% gain seen month-on-month and a year-on-year decline of 3.6% expected.
Official data released over the weekend showed that China's factory
output in the first two months of the year slowed to the weakest level
since November 2008, adding to the view that the economy remains in the
midst of an ongoing slowdown which will require Beijing to roll out more
support in coming months.
Industrial production rose by an annualized rate of 5.4% in January,
below expectations for a 5.6% increase and slowing from a gain of 5.9%
in the preceding month, the General Administration of Customs said on
Saturday.
The U.S. dollar index,
which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket
of six major currencies, was last quoted at 96.19, down 0.04%.
In the week ahead, investors will be turning their attention to
Wednesday’s outcome of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting, with
officials widely expected to keep interest rates on hold after hiking
in December for the first time in almost a decade.
Central bank meetings in Japan and Switzerland will also be in focus.
Last week, the dollar fell to near one-month lows against a basket of
the other major currencies on Friday as risk appetite was boosted after
China’s central bank lifted the fixed rate of the yuan and as the
European Central Bank indicated it still had policy options available to
bolster growth.
China’s central bank boosted the fixed rate of the yuan following a
sharp rally in the euro on Thursday, after ECB President Mario Draghi
appeared to indicate that the bank would not cut interest rates deeper
into negative territory.
The move boosted commodity prices and the commodity linked currencies, sending the dollar broadly lower.
Meanwhile, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said Friday
the bank has not run out of tools to boost the economy and will continue
to support it until it reaches its inflation target of almost 2%.
The remarks came a day after the ECB delivered a
stronger-than-expected package of stimulus measures, cutting interest
rates across the euro zone to new record lows and ramping up its
quantitative easing program.
But the euro posted its largest one day gain in a month after
President Draghi's comment that he expected the bank might not have to
cut rates further fueled concerns that officials were running out of
policy measures to spur growth.
