Dollar steadies, sterling eases ahead of inflation data
Updates prices at 0510 GMT
By Rae Wee
SINGAPORE, June 19 (Reuters) -The dollar recovered some ground on Wednesday after soft U.S. retail sales data reinforced bets of imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts, while sterling dipped ahead of a reading on UK inflation due later in the day.
U.S. retail sales barely rose in May and data for the prior month was revised considerably lower, data showed on Tuesday, suggesting that economic activity remained lacklustre in the second quarter.
That knocked the greenback lower in the immediate aftermath, though its losses were limited against a basket of currencies as the euro, which holds the largest weight in the dollar index =USD, continues to be weighed down by political jitters in France and the wider bloc.
The euro EUR=EBS was last marginally lower at $1.0736, while the dollar index =USD steadied at 105.28.
"We thought that the U.S. retail sales would be weak, and it was," said Joseph Capurso, head of international and sustainable economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
"Things are finally deteriorating. It looked like the U.S. consumer was never going to slow down, but looks like that's exactly what happened now."
Markets are now pricing in a 67% chance the Fed will begin easing rates in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool, with nearly 50 basis points worth of cuts priced in for the rest of the year. FEDWATCH
Sterling GBP=D3 fell 0.02% to $1.2706 ahead of UK inflation data later on Wednesday, which comes before a policy decision by the Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday, where rates are expected to remain on hold.
"Because of base effects from a year ago, because of falls in energy, electricity prices in the UK, the headline will come down a long way," CBA's Capurso said.
"But what the BoE and the markets really care about is services inflation...and the BoE has said they really want that to come down further, and that is linked very heavily to wages and a tight labour market."
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 was a notable outperformer against the greenback, also helped by a hawkish stance from Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Michele Bullock on Tuesday in a press conference following the central bank's rate decision.
The Aussie was last 0.12% higher at $0.6664, extending its 0.66% gain from the previous session. Meanwhile, the New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 fell 0.19% to $0.6133.
Elsewhere, the yen JPY=EBS was little changed at 157.83 per dollar, as it continues to be pressured by stark interest rate differentials between Japan and the U.S., in particular.
Minutes of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) April policy meeting on Wednesday showed policymakers debated the impact a weak yen could have on prices, though the release did little to move the market as investors looked ahead to the next BOJ meeting in July.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Tuesday the central bank could raise interest rates next month depending on economic data available at the time.
"The bank's outlook for economic growth and price pressures suggests, in our view, that further policy normalisation is on the horizon," Wells Fargo economists said of the BOJ in a note.
"However, the fact that they have not made meaningful policy change since lifting the policy rate in March, and that they are taking a slow approach to the process of reducing bond purchases, suggests to us that forthcoming policy change will be rolled out in a gradual manner."
World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed and Jacqueline Wong
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
