Foreign Exchange News

Asian stock markets mostly advanced Friday, as traders focused on the underlying economic optimism that led the Bank of Japan to switch tracks on monetary policy. In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 Average rose 0.5%, or 87.72 yen, to 16,115.63. The broader Topix index was up 1.08% at 1,658.79. On Thursday the BoJ said it would end its five-year-old quantitative easing, but retain its zero-interest rate ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will determine the reform path of the yuan according to its own needs and will not follow the dictates of other countries, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Saturday. Zhou, governor of the People's Bank of China, told reporters on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, or parliament, that recent softness in the yuan mainly reflected movements in the  ...

The U.S. dollar staged a broad rally against its major rivals Friday, striking a one-month high against the yen, after a solid nonfarm payrolls report reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue lifting interest rates. The dollar index, which compares the U.S. currency to a handful of the world's major currencies, climbed to 91.16, the highest level of the year. Strong job ...

The U.S. dollar staged a broad rally against its major rivals, striking a one-month high versus the yen Friday, after a solid nonfarm payrolls report reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue lifting interest rates. Strong jobs growth and higher wages will keep the Fed on a rate-tightening path to fend off inflation, market observers said. "The obvious implication [of th ...

The dollar hit its highest level this year as strong wage data in February’s US employment report suggested the US Federal Reserve will keep raising rates. // Average hourly earnings on an annual basis rose by 3.5 per cent, the highest increase since September 2001. There was a stronger-than-forecast 243,000 increase in jobs in February, against the 210,000 expected. But this was partially offset ...

The U.S. dollar strengthened against most of its major foreign-exchange counterparts after a better-than-expected February nonfarm payrolls report early Friday. Meanwhile, the yen extended losses from the prior session, touching a two-week low against the dollar on bearish Japanese economic data and on continued fallout from the Bank of Japan's end of ultra-easing. Observers said they see no ...

The yen reached a two-week low against the U.S. dollar on Friday on continued fallout from the Bank of Japan's end of quantitative easing and on bearish data from that country, though payrolls data later in the session is likely to move the U.S. dollar more. The dollar rose as high as 118.70 yen and traded in European hours at 118.32 yen from 118.19 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.191 ...

HONG KONG (Dow Jones) -- Asian markets rallied across the board Friday, as traders shrugged off a weaker finish on Wall Street and focused on the underlying economic optimism that led the Bank of Japan to switch tracks on monetary policy. On Thursday the BoJ said it would end its five-year-old quantitative easing, but retain its zero-interest rate policy with an eye to tolerating inflation in t ...

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Gold and other precious metals recovered Thursday from a steep selloff Wednesday, lifted by speculative and trade buying described by some as bargain hunting. April gold settled up $2.70 to $547 a troy ounce, while May silver added 12.5 cents to $9.97/oz. Gold appears to be tracking swings in crude oil, said Tim Evans, commodities analyst with IFR Pegasus. As gold w ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- The global impact from the Bank of Japan's epoch- making shift is likely to be more of a process than an event, and is unlikely to roil the U.S. and world financial markets, analysts said Thursday. The Bank of Japan, by a vote of 7 to 1, concluded Thursday that economic and price conditions favor the return to a more normal monetary-policy position. The central bank s ...