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Forexpros – The U.S. dollar moved lower against its major counterparts in Asian trade Friday, on worse than expected labor data and a mild downturn for Wall Street shares.
In mid-day Asian trade, the greenback was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.40% to hit 1.3937.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly for the week ending September 2.
Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 414,000, above market forecasts of a decline to 405,000. The previous week’s figure was revised up to 412,000 from 409,000.
Later in the day, Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank would be discussing options available to support the economy, but fell short of spelling out specific proposals for growth.
Analysts had been looking at the Fed’s outlook on inflation as key to whether the U.S. central bank would be introducing a new round of quantitative easing.
The jobless numbers along with the lack of direction on economic stimulus from the Fed sent Wall Street shares lower for the fourth time in five sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.04%, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.78%, and the S&P 500 declined 1.06%.
Thursday evening, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke before a joint session of Congress where he outlined a USD447 billion proposal to stimulate the U.S. economy.
Meanwhile, the greenback was lower against the British pound, with GBP/USD up by 0.18% to hit 1.5987.
The dollar was down against both the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY dropping 0.02% to hit 77.49, and USD/CHF down by 0.42% to hit 0.8718.
The greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD down 0.21% to hit 0.9871, AUD/USD up by 0.49% to hit 1.0627, and NZD/USD gaining 0.63% to hit 0.8360.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.25% at 76.16.
The U.S. Census Bureau was scheduled to release wholesale inventory figures, an indication of consumer demand, later Friday.
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