Dollar slips against yen ahead of US jobs data
Agence France-Presse | 07/02/2009 10:58 AM
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TOKYO - The dollar fell against the yen in Asian trade Thursday ahead of a report that is expected to show another wave of job losses in the United States, dealers said.
The dollar eased to 96.57 yen in Tokyo morning trade from 96.64 in New York late Wednesday. The euro dropped to 1.4126 dollars from 1.4146 and to 136.41 yen from 136.71.
Investors are now bracing themselves for a US non-farm payrolls report due later Thursday, said NAB Capital strategist Spiros Papadopoulos.
A disappointing result "would help reinforce last week's Fed message that rates aren't going up for a long while yet," he added.
The US Federal Reserve last week left its stimulative monetary policy unchanged and gave no sign that it was preparing to scale back its pump-priming measures.
The US private sector shed 473,000 jobs in June, a survey by payrolls firm ADP showed Wednesday, highlighting ongoing weakness in the labour market.
The figures sparked concern that the non-farm payrolls report may be worse than market expectations for 365,000 job losses in June, dealers said.
US markets will be closed on Friday for Independence Day celebrations.
The euro was softer against the dollar and the yen ahead of a monetary policy decision by the European Central Bank later in the day, when interest rates are widely expected to be left unchanged at one percent, dealers said.
The ECB is also likely to signal that a rate cut is unlikely in August, Barclays Capital strategists predicted.
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