Photo: archive 3e-news/BTA-AR
The US dollar depreciates against the euro and the British pound and strengthens against the yen. The market’s attention is focused on the preliminary data on the dynamics of US GDP for the first quarter, which will be published at 15:30 Bulgarian time.
The US earnings report for March is due out on Friday, which includes a key measure of inflation (the PCE index) tracked by the US Federal Reserve (the country’s central bank).
Data released yesterday showed that orders for durable goods in the United States rose 2.6 percent, the most since November last year, compared with February, when they rose a revised 0.7 percent. Experts had forecast growth in March of 2.5% on average, according to Trading Economics. Excluding transport and defense products, orders increased by 0.2%.
The Bank of Japan could intervene as early as Friday to support the national currency, according to Standard Bank strategist Stephen Barrow, whose opinion was quoted by MarketWatch. According to him, in order to achieve the maximum result, the Japanese central bank can coordinate its efforts with the Bank of South Korea.
The last time the Bank of Japan conducted a currency intervention was in September 2022. The initial effect was negligible, but in the following months the yen appreciated significantly.
The ICE-calculated DXY index, which shows the dollar’s performance against the six major currencies (euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound and Swedish krona), lost 0.11%, the broader WSJ Dollar Index, which includes 16 currencies, falling by 0.05 percent*.
The euro rose 0.22% against the dollar to trade at $1.0722, up from $1.0699 at the close of previous trade.
The British pound to dollar exchange rate rose 0.21% to $1.2490 from $1.2464 the previous day.
The US currency, against the yen, rose 0.17% to 155.62 yen from 155.35 yen at the end of the previous session.
With a weak dollar, commodity currencies rise. The Australian and New Zealand dollars, which are also dependent on both countries’ trade with China, rose 0.31% to US$0.6518 per Aussie and 0.27% to US$0.5952 per Kiwi, respectively.
The other two commodity currencies that are highly dependent on oil prices, the Canadian dollar and the Norwegian krone rose by 0.17% to 1.3682 Canadian dollars per US dollar and by 0.15% to 10.9723 Norwegian kroner per US dollar, respectively. European-traded Brent crude futures rose 0.20% to $88.20 a barrel, while U.S. light crude (WTI) futures rose 0.21% to $82.98 a barrel*.
*Exchange rates and oil quotations are current as of 10:30 a.m. Bulgarian time, sources Reuters and TradingEconomics.
