Monday morning in Asia, the US dollar edged down against its major counterparts as a rise in some Asian stocks reduced demand for the safe-haven greenback. The dollar thus eased from a new multi-month high against the yen.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.5 percent, Singapore’s Straits Times Index increased 0.6 percent and Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 0.4 percent.
Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and New Zealand are closed today for a holiday.
U.S. payroll employment showed a notable increase in the month of March, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday, although the increase in jobs was somewhat smaller than economists had been anticipating.
The report showed that non-farm payroll employment increased by 162,000 jobs in March following a revised decrease of 14,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 184,000 jobs compared to the loss of 36,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
While the increase in employment fell short of economist estimates, it still marked the fastest pace of job growth since March of 2007.
Additionally, the Labor Department said that the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7% in March, unchanged from the previous month and in line with economist estimates.
The dollar declined against the currencies of UK and Switzerland in early Asian deals on Monday. At 9:35 pm ET, the dollar touched lows of 1.5285 against the pound and 1.0591 against the franc. The next downside target level for the dollar is seen at 1.530 against the pound and 1.050 against the franc. As of now, the dollar is worth 1.5272 against the pound and 1.0596 against the franc.
During early Asian deals on Monday, the dollar slipped against the euro and hit a low of 1.3539 at 9:40 pm ET. On the downside, 1.359 is seen as the next target level for the US currency. The euro-dollar pair is currently worth 1.3530.
The dollar that strengthened against the yen in early Monday Asian deals lost ground after reaching a new multi-month high of 94.80 at 5:35 pm ET. At present, the dollar-yen pair is worth 94.41. If the dollar slides further, it may likely target the 93.7 level.
There are no significant economic reports due to be released in today’s European session.
However, the U.S. pending home sales for February and the ISM non-manufacturing composite index for March have been scheduled for release in the New York session.