SINGAPORE- The US dollar began the week under gentle pressure, after a second consecutive month of softer-than-expected US jobs data reversed its recent attempts at a rally, as focus shifted to inflation figures and a European Central Bank meeting.
Friday jobs readout, which showed US non-farm payrolls increasing by 559,000 in May, missed market expectations by nearly 90,000 and seemed to cool worries that the recovery was running hot enough to require early tapering of policy support.
After the data, the dollar unwound a broad bounce, and on Monday it opened in Asia near where it finished the week. A euro bought $1.2165, about 0.5 percent below the three-week high of $1.2104 it had struck on Friday.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were back above 77 cents and 72 cents, respectively, and the dollar was back beneath 110 Japanese yen, last trading at 109.61 yen.
China’s yuan bounced back to again trade stronger than 6.4 per dollar and last bought 6.3880 offshore.
“Friday’s slightly softer-than-expected US May employment numbers stand to set the tone for the weeks ahead,” ING Bank analysts said in a note to clients.
“This provides the excuse for the (US Federal Reserve) to say that substantial progress towards its goals has not been achieved and to defer the tapering debate a little longer.”
