U.S. Dollar Rose on Tuesday Morning in Asia

The U.S. Dollar rose on Tuesday morning but remained near two-week lows. Moves were mostly light as the month draws to a close, with the latest U.S. jobs report, including non-farm payroll numbers, due in several days. The U.S. dollar index gained 0.01% to 92.662 by 10:28 PM ET (2:28 AM GMT).

The USD/JPY pair declined 0.05% to 109.87.

Another pair the AUD/USD fell 0.01% to 0.7293, after peaking at $0.7317 last Friday. The NDZ/USD par rose 0.38% to 0.7025. 

The USD/CNY pair advanced 0.04% to 6.4684. On Tuesday, China released lower-than-expected economic data. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) stood at 50.1 and the non-manufacturing PMI stood at 47.5 in August. On Tuesday, the offshore Chinese yuan remained close to its three-week of 6.4595 his on Friday. 

Dollar, pound, and other currencies

The GBP/USD pair gained 0.5% to 1.3765.

The U.S. dollar clawed back some of its losses after Jerome Powell didn’t provide a firm timetable regarding one very important issue. He only stated that asset tapering could begin within 2021. His speech was the main event of the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole symposium. Federal Reserve Chair underlined that the beginning of tapering doesn’t signal any plan to start raising the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate. The country’s central bank kept its benchmark short-term rate near zero since the pandemic tore through the economy in 2020. 

The latest U.S. jobs report will be the next highlight given the focus on the Fed’s asset taper. A strong result will boost expectations that the central bank will give markets notice in September before a formal decision in November.

Results that are lower than expected could delay the notice to November with the formal decision following a month later.

The consumer price index for August is due later in the day in Europe. The single currency traded at $1.1799, close to Monday’s three-week high of $1.1810, earlier in the Asian session. 

On Tuesday, the Canadian dollar was 1.2610 after hitting a two-week high one day earlier. Strong oil sales led to a wider-than-expected Canadian current account. That factor helped to boost the Canadian dollar on Monday.