Jalatama Artha Berjangka News

Australia’s dollar reached a four-week high after home prices and business sentiment climbed. The greenback fell against the yen before Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen speaks to U.S. lawmakers today.

Japan’s currency advanced from its lowest level in more than a week against the dollar before reports this week that may show U.S. retail sales stalled and Chinese import growth slowed. The Aussie rose against all its major peers. A gauge of global currency volatility dropped to the least in more than two weeks.

The Australian currency rose 0.7 percent to 90.09 U.S. cents as of 9:08 a.m. in Singapore, and touched the highest since Jan. 14 at 90.15. The yen added 0.2 percent to 102.10 per dollar after dropping to 102.64 yesterday, the weakest since Jan. 31. It fetched 139.62 per euro, down 0.1 percent from yesterday. Europe’s shared currency climbed 0.2 percent to $1.3675.

The JPMorgan Global FX Volatility Index fell to 8.05 percent, the lowest since Jan. 22.

Yellen will speak before Congress today for the first time since being sworn in as Fed chairman on Feb. 3. Her appearance comes after the Federal Open Market Committee said last month it will cut monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $65 billion, citing labor-market indicators that “were mixed but on balance showed further improvement” and economic growth that has “picked up in recent quarters.” Policy makers next meet on March 18-19.

A report tomorrow may show imports by China, the world’s second-largest economy, climbed 4 percent last month from a year earlier after an 8.3 percent gain in December, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The U.S. Commerce Department may say Feb. 13 that retail sales stagnated in January after a 0.2 percent gain the month before, a separate poll showed.

(Source: Bloomberg)

 The yen gained against most major peers after Bank of Japan board member Takehiro Sato said today risks for prices are tilted to the downside, adding to concern policy makers may struggle to boost inflation to 2 percent.

The euro held a drop versus the greenback from yesterday before a speech in Berlin from European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen, who has said negative deposit rates are a possible tool. Australia’s dollar advanced after a central bank official said the nation shouldn’t be concerned that home prices are increasing. The yen rose for the first time in four days after Sato’s comments were published in minutes of the last central bank meeting.

BOJ officials are “somewhat tentative and cautious,” said Callum Henderson, the global head of currency research at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore. “Our expectation is for further gradual gains in dollar-yen, but it’ll be a slow grind rather than a dramatic move higher.”

Japan’s currency gained 0.2 percent to 101.44 per dollar as of 9:51 a.m. in Tokyo after reaching 101.92 yesterday, the weakest since May 29. The yen rose 0.2 percent to 137.22 per euro, rebounding from a four-year low. The euro was little changed at $1.3528 from $1.3517 yesterday, when it declined 0.3 percent.

The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against 10 major counterparts, slid 0.1 percent to 1,020.23.

The BOJ said in April it wanted to achieve 2 percent inflation in about two years. Central bank board member Sayuri Shirai proposed adding “attention should be paid to the downside risks” to the bank’s outlook report as “there was a high degree of uncertainty regarding developments in overseas economies and households’ employment and income situation,” the BOJ minutes showed.

(Source: Bloomberg)