Forex Today: Dollar retreats, as markets cheer China optimism ahead of US data
Here is what you need to know on Friday, September 15:
A risk-on market profile remains heading into the European session, as Asian markets tracked the rally in Wall Street overnight. The successful IPO of Arm instilled confidence in the US capital markets and lifted the market sentiment. Traders cheered China’s policy support measures and strong business activity data on the final trading day of the week, adding to the market’s optimism. The US S&P 500 futures are up nearly 0.20% on the day.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cut the bank’s Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR) and the 14-day Reverse Repo rate, in an effort to stimulate the faltering economic recovery. China’s Retail Sales and Industrial Production increased more than expected in August.
The US Dollar (USD) retreated from fresh six-month highs of 105.43 against its main rivals, as risk appetite reduces its safe-haven appeal. Meanwhile, the US Treasury bond yields are in a phase of upside consolidation, awaiting a fresh batch of US economic data for fresh impetus. The US docket will feature the mid-tier Industrial Production and the high-impact UoM preliminary Consumer Sentiment and Inflation Expectations.
US Dollar price today
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the weakest against the Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | -0.25% | -0.24% | -0.09% | -0.57% | 0.03% | -0.53% | -0.14% | |
| EUR | 0.26% | 0.01% | 0.16% | -0.34% | 0.28% | -0.30% | 0.15% | |
| GBP | 0.22% | -0.04% | 0.13% | -0.37% | 0.28% | -0.33% | 0.12% | |
| CAD | 0.08% | -0.18% | -0.15% | -0.50% | 0.11% | -0.46% | -0.01% | |
| AUD | 0.57% | 0.32% | 0.35% | 0.49% | 0.63% | 0.04% | 0.48% | |
| JPY | -0.04% | -0.30% | -0.28% | -0.15% | -0.61% | -0.60% | -0.17% | |
| NZD | 0.53% | 0.27% | 0.30% | 0.43% | -0.05% | 0.58% | 0.41% | |
| CHF | 0.12% | -0.15% | -0.12% | 0.01% | -0.45% | 0.17% | -0.42% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
AUD/USD is extending the rebound toward 0.6500 on strong Chinese data and policy support measures. USD/CAD is struggling near 1.3500 amid a pause in the oil price rally and a broad US Dollar retreat. WTI is trading close to the multi-month high of $90.56, at the time of writing.
USD/JPY is holding steady at around 147.50, keeping the weekly range ahead of next week’s Fed and Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) monetary policy decisions.
EUR/USD is building on the rebound from six-month lows reached at 1.0633 on Thursday. The European Central Bank (ECB) hiked the key rates by 25 basis points (bps) but signaled that it could be the last hike amid downward revisions to the central bank’s growth and inflation forecasts.
GBP/USD is defending the 1.2400 level, as a better market mood underpins the higher-yielding Pound Sterling.
Gold price is moving further away from multi-week lows, looking to recapture the critical hurdle at $1,920.
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
