Forex - US dollar little changed vs yen, euro early in Asian session

Forex - US dollar little changed vs yen, euro early in Asian session

	Published : Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:52 By : Agencies Print this Story

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was little changed against the yen and the euro early in Asian trading hours Thursday after the greenback staged a mild recovery in trading in New York Wednesday as Wall St reversed some of Tuesday's heavy sell-off and as positions in high-yielding currencies were reduced.

However, further weak US housing data announced Wednesday and the prospect of the release of other important data later Thursday are likely to weigh on the dollar until the European session.

At 9.53 am here (2353 GMT Wednesday), the dollar was at 120.53 yen, almost unchanged from 120.51 yen in late trading in New York Wednesday. The euro was at 1.3727 dollars, marginally up from 1.3721 dollars in New York.

The New Zealand dollar weakened slightly immediately after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) increased its official cash rate by 25 basis points to 8.25 percent but signaled that further increases may not be necessary. The paring of carry trades seen Wednesday continued Thursday as traders reduced their expectations of further increases in interest rates by the RBNZ.

Weighing on the US dollar is the announcement Wednesday that US existing home sales fell 3.8 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million. The market had expected a fall of 2.1 percent to 5.87 million.

However, the median price of homes in the US rose 3.3 percent in June and was 0.3 percent higher than a year before -- the first year-on-year gain in 11 months.

Commonwealth Bank economist Joseph Capurso said that, even so, there was still little sign of a bottoming-out of the US housing market, and that more weakness could be expected in the coming months.

The US housing market will be in focus again later in the day, with the release of the new home sales figures for June. The US durable good orders data for June are also due to be announced.

Sydney 9.53 am (2353 GMT Wednesday)

US dollar

120.53 yen

1.2131 sfr

Euro

1.3727 usd

165.45 yen

1.6652 sfr

0.6684 stg

Sterling

2.0536 usd

247.60 yen

2.4914 sfr

Australian dollar

0.8861 usd

0.4315 stg

106.83 yen

New Zealand dollar

0.8016 usd

TFN.Sydney@thomson.com

pd/jm

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