The greenback dropped to 92.395 for the first time since Aug. 6
The dollar rose on Wednesday morning in Asia but was trading near its lowest level in nearly three weeks. Investors continued with small moves, with the latest U.S. jobs report, which could provide clues to the U.S. Fed’s tapering timeline, due on Friday.
The U.S. Dollar Index edged down 0.10% to 92.730 by 3:25 AM GMT. It dropped to 92.395 for the first time since Aug. 6 on Tuesday.
The USD/JPY pair edged up 0.16% to 110.19.
The AUD/USD pair inched down 0.01% to 0.7314. The Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 9.6% year-on-year (YOY) and 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2021.The NZD/USD pair inched down 0.06% to 0.7040.
The USD/CNY pair rose 0.04% to 6.4633, with China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), at a disappointing 49.2 in August, below the 50-mark indicating growth.
The GBP/USD pair edged down 0.11% to 1.3739.
The greenback has been on a downward trend since jumping to a nine-and-a-half month high of 93.734 on Aug. 20 as some Fed officials suggested that asset tapering would not begin imminently.
While Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that asset tapering could begin in 2021 at the previous week’s Jackson Hole symposium, he did not provide a concrete timetable. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester also said on Monday that she was not yet convinced that recent inflation data satisfied the central bank’s price stability goal.
On the data front, the U.S. Conference Board (CB) consumer confidence index was 113.8, a six-month low, while the S&P/Case-Shiller 20 n.s.a. house price index composite grew a record 19.1% in June.
Investors will be paying attention to the latest U.S. jobs report that includes non-farm payrolls, due on Friday as labour market recovery is one of the Fed’s conditions to begin asset tapering.
