Forexpros –
Forexpros – The U.S. dollar edged higher against its major counterparts in Asian trade Thursday, boosted by a strong showing on Wall Street and hopes for renewed stimulus efforts from the U.S. government to shore up the economy.
In mid-day Asian trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD falling 0.27% to hit 1.4059.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. stocks got a boost from a German court ruling giving the go-ahead to further participation by Europe’s largest economy in the European Financial Stability Facility, a rescue fund for debt threatened euro-zone members.
The German court ruling along with Italian Senate approval of an austerity plan to reduce its the federal budget deficit helped ease concerns over ongoing debt problems in the euro-zone.
The news on Germany and Italy helped ease European debt concerns on Wall Street as U.S. stocks posted their first gain in four days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.47%, the Nasdaq Composite Index added 3.04%, and the S&P 500 advanced 2.86%.
Market attention turned to a scheduled speech from U.S. President Barack Obama later Thursday, where he was expected to propose a nearly USD300 package to boost the country’s economy and spur employment.
Meanwhile, the greenback was up against the British pound, with GBP/USD down by 0.24% to hit 1.5951.
The dollar was higher against both the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY climbing 0.18% to hit 77.38, and USD/CHF up by 0.19% to hit 0.8589.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD up 0.32% to hit 0.9861, AUD/USD lower by 0.72% to hit 1.0582, and NZD/USD gaining 0.10% to hit 0.8328.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.23% at 75.69.
U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke was scheduled to deliver a speech later Thursday in Minnesota, where investors were expected to pay attention to any signs of the Fed’s willingness to introduce a new round of quantitative easing.
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