Forex - US dollar little changed in thin trading; holidays in Asia, Europe

Forex - US dollar little changed in thin trading; holidays in Asia, Europe

	Published : Tue, 01 May 2007 06:08 By : Agencies Print this Story

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - The US dollar was little changed against major currencies as holidays for most of Asia and in Europe later today cut traders' enthusiasm to take positions.

They said currencies will likely continue trading in tight ranges until the release tonight of the US Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey for April and pending home sales for March but more than likely, trading will be rangebound until Friday's nonfarm payrolls report.

At 2.32 pm Sydney (0432 GMT), the dollar was at 119.56 yen from 119.49 earlier in Sydney while the euro was at 1.3651 usd compared to 1.3650 earlier.

CMC Markets' chief analyst Ashraf Laidi said the US data releases overnight showing near flat core deflator index for March, and slowing to a 2.1 pct annual rate, is in line with his firm's call for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut of 25 basis points in June.

He said the PCE deflator, along with the weaker than expected 0.3 pct rise in March personal spending from a revised 0.7 pct increase in February, casts doubts on the strength of US consumer and its ability to prevent a hard economic landing.

'A slowdown in personal spending along with slowing core PCE price index would imply that not only

that US consumer is backtracking, but the Fed's inflation argument is weakening, paving the way for interest rate cuts as early as June at a time when US growth is at its lowest in four years,' Laidi added.

Sydney 2.32 pm (0432 GMT) vs Sydney 10.16 am (0016 GMT)

US dollar

119.56 yen vs 119.49 yen

1.2076 sfr vs 1.2066 sfr

Euro

1.3651 usd vs 1.3650 usd

163.21 yen vs 163.14 yen

1.6482 sfr vs 1.6469 sfr

0.6825 stg vs 0.6829 stg

Sterling

2.0002 usd vs 1.9997 usd

239.06 yen vs 238.88 yen

2.4140 sfr vs 2.4125 sfr

Australian dollar

0.8291 usd vs 0.8303 usd

0.4144 stg vs 0.4152 stg

99.085 yen vs 99.170 yen

New Zealand dollar

0.7412 usd vs 0.7410 usd

paul.daniel@xfn.com

pd/mas