Dollar climbs on jobs data, sterling supported ahead of BoE
Currencies Direct January 9th 2014 - < 1 minute read
The dollar climbed to a four-month high on Thursday (January
9th) after data showed the US economy added more jobs than
predicted last month.
Payrolls firm ADP said 238,000 jobs were added in December,
above the 200,000 predicted, bolstering the view that the Federal
Reserve will continue to dial back stimulus this year.
Meanwhile minutes from the
Fed’s December policy meeting showed officials see diminishing
returns from bond buying.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket
of currencies, climbed to 81.25.
Meanwhile the pound approached a two-year high against the
greenback before the Bank of England rate decision later today.
GBP/USD hit 1.6592 at one stage, close to a peak not seen since
2011, before settling around 1.6462.
The euro also strengthened from a five-week low on bets the
European Central Bank will refrain from further easing when it
meets later today.
EUR/GBP was up 0.2 per cent at 0.8269, while the single currency
climbed a quarter of one per cent on the dollar to trade at
1.3610.
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Currencies Direct