Dollar index near 5-year highs amid U.S. optimism The dollar was trading near five-year highs against the other major currencies on Friday, as Thursdays U.S. jobless claims data and the Federal Reserves most recent policy statement continued to support.The dollar remained supported after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 12 fell by 6,000 to 289,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 295,000. Economist had forecast an increase of 1,000.The data came a day after the Fed said it would be patient before raising rates, guidance which it said is consistent with earlier assurances statement that rates would stay low for a considerable time. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank was unlikely to raise rates for the next couple of meetings indicating that a move in April at the earliest is possible.The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.15% to 89.58, not far from last weeks five-year high of 89.78. The dollar held steady close to to 19-month highs against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF at 0.9804, while EUR/CHF was little changed at 1.2036.On Thursday, the Swiss National Bank introduced a negative exchange rate of -0.25% on sight deposit account balances and reiterated its commitment to maintaining the minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro.EUR/USD was almost unchanged, near two-week lows at 1.2277 even as data earlier showed that the Gfk German consumer climate index rose to a six-month high of 9.0 in December from a reading of 8.7 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick up to 8.9 this month.USD/JPY was up 0.44% to 119.35 after the Bank of Japan said it will boost its monetary base at an annual pace of ¥80 trillion. The traditional safe haven yen rallied earlier in the week as a rout in oil prices continued, adding to fears over the global economic outlook and the impact of oil’s drop on weakening emerging market economies and their currencies.The Russian ruble was higher, with USD/RUB dropping 3.10% at 60.15, recovering from record lows hit on Tuesday after a surprise interest rate hike failed to ease selling pressure on the currency from falling oil and western sanctions. The pound edged lower, with GBP/USD down 0.12% to 1.5651 after the Office for National Statistics reported on Friday that U.K. public sector net borrowing rose by £13.41 billion last month, compared to expectations for an increase of £15.37 billion.October figure was revised to a £6.43 billion gain from a previously estimated £7.06 billion rise.The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were steady to lower, with AUD/USD down 0.09% to 0.8156 and NZD/USD steady at 0.7767, while USD/CAD edged up 0.17% to trade at 1.1598.Data earlier showed that the ANZ business confidence index for New Zealand fell to 30.4 in December from 31.4 the previous month.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 10:51:11 +0000
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