The dollar weakened against most global currencies and on Friday, it rose confidently against the yen

During today’s trade, the US dollar is volatile against the euro, the British pound and most global currencies, confidently strengthening against the yen after the results of the Bank of Japan meeting. The U.S. currency thus fell against most major rivals for a second day in a row on Friday.

Traders’ attention on Friday will be on the US earnings and spending report for March, which includes a key measure of inflation (the PCE index) tracked by the Federal Reserve. These data will be released after 15:30 Bulgarian time today.

The general forecast of experts polled by Trading Economics suggests an acceleration in March PCE growth to 2.6% year-on-year from February’s 2.5% and a slowdown in the pace of growth in the main inflation indicator (the PCE Core index, which excludes volatile components such as food and energy) – to 2.6% from 2.8%.

A US Commerce Department report released yesterday showed increased inflationary pressures in the country in the first quarter with a rapid slowdown in economic growth. That confirmed traders’ belief that the Federal Reserve will not cut rates anytime soon and dampened their optimism about the possibility of a soft landing for the US economy.

According to the report, US GDP growth slowed to 1.6% on an annual basis in January-March from 3.4% in the 4th quarter, and the increase in the PCE Core index accelerated to 3.7% from 2%.

See also: US GDP grew 1.6% in the first quarter against a forecast of 2.5% growth

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The DXY index, calculated by ICE, which shows the dollar’s performance against the six major currencies (euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound and Swedish krona), fell 0.03%, the broader WSJ Dollar Index, which includes including 16 currencies, decreased by 0.02 percent*.

The euro rose 0.07% to $1.0736 from $1.0728 at the close of previous trade. Yesterday afternoon, the European Central Bank set a reference rate of the euro at 1.0720 dollars.

The British pound was up 0.02% at $1.2514, up from $1.2511 at the close on Thursday.

The price of the US currency paired with the Japanese national currency rose 0.20% to 155.97 yen from 155.65 yen the previous day. The dollar/yen exchange rate hit a 34-year high in trading, sparking a fresh wave of fears of government intervention in the foreign exchange market. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said after the central bank meeting that the government would respond appropriately to sharp currency fluctuations.

The Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate in the range of 0% to 0.1% annually after a two-day meeting that ended on Friday, raising inflation forecasts for the current and next fiscal years. The central bank also said it would continue to buy government and corporate bonds in line with decisions taken in March.

With a weak dollar, commodity currencies traditionally rise if other factors do not exert a stronger influence. The Australian and New Zealand dollars, which are also dependent on both countries’ trade with China, rose 0.33% to US$0.6543 per Aussie and 0.05% to US$0.5960 per Kiwi, respectively.

The other two commodity currencies – the Canadian dollar and the Norwegian krone – also rose in price as oil prices also rose. The US dollar fell 0.08% to C$1.36485 and 0.02% to 10.9610 crowns. U.S. light crude (WTI) futures for May 21 delivery rose 0.71% to $84.16 a barrel, and mostly European-traded Brent crude for April 30 delivery rose 0.74% to $89.74 a barrel.*

*Exchange rates and oil quotations are current as of 10:30 a.m. Bulgarian time, sources Reuters and TradingEconomics.