* Markets awaiting U.S. non-farm payrolls data
* Euro seen consolidating in Asian session
* Next (Xetra: 779551 - news) week's EU Summit key to year-end sentiment
SYDNEY, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The euro and commodity currencies struggled to make much headway in Asia on Friday, continuing to consolidate hefty gains made earlier in the week as investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of the closely watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report.
Due at 1330 GMT, the labour data is expected to show an increase of 122,000 jobs and a steady unemployment rate of 9.0 percent. A positive surprise is likely to underpin risk sentiment, while a weaker-than-expected outcome could prompt investors to take more profits on recent gains.
The euro stood at $1.3460 versus $1.3457 late in New York. It was off a one-week peak of $1.3531 set on Wednesday after major central banks moved to ease a credit squeeze stemming from the euro zone debt crisis.
But a lack of hard action to resolve the euro zone's debt problems had seen the rally come to a halt and left investors looking towards the jobs report as well as next week's European Central Bank (Other OTC: CBSU.PK - news) policy meeting and the EU summit for fresh cues.
If political leaders can agree next week on much tighter budget controls, that could pave the way for more aggressive action from the European Central Bank (ECB), as signalled by the bank's new chief on Thursday.
"Our economists believe that a satisfactory fiscal compact agreed upon at the summit next week should open the door to ECB quantitative easing, which we expect could come as soon as Q1 2012," wrote analysts at BNP Paribas (Other OTC: BNPQF.PK - news) .
But analysts at Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) warned a lack of progress on the root causes of the euro zone crisis will translate into wider bond yield spreads and a weaker euro, in January.
With the euro on the front foot for now, the dollar index slipped 0.1 percent to 78.305. Against the yen, the dollar was at 77.75, still hemmed in a 77-78 range with investors wary of more massive intervention by Japan (EUREX: FMJP.EX - news) .
Commodity (Euronext: COMIN.NX - news) currencies, while off the week's peak, stayed well supported. The Australian dollar stood at $1.0227, not far off a three-week high of $1.0335 set earlier in the week.
It is on track to end the week up more than 4 percent. Key resistance is seen around $1.0337, a level representing the 61.8 percent retracement of the November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) decline.
There is no major data in Asia, while euro zone producer inflation numbers are due later in the day. (Editing by Ed Davies)
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