Asian session review: the dollar rose slightly against the major currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar rose slightly against the euro and the pound, and consolidated against the yen.

Market participants this week expect the release of data on unemployment in the United States for June, which will be released on July 2. Data on the labor market are key for the policy of the Federal Reserve System, along with inflation indicators. The dynamics of employment will largely depend on when the Federal Reserve will begin to curtail large-scale stimulus measures introduced at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Neil Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said last Friday that although the US economy is at the beginning of a powerful recovery, it still has a long way to go to regain the jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Eric Rosengren, expressed his readiness to discuss the curtailment of measures to support the American economy, partly due to fears that extremely cheap loans could destabilize it. "It's definitely time to start thinking about how quickly it would be appropriate to abandon the stimulus measures," Rosengren said. At the same time, he did not specify the time frame in which, in his opinion, this may happen.

Some support for both the dollar and the yen is provided by the demand for safe haven assets against the background of the spread of the more contagious delta COVID-19 strain in Asia and other countries, which raises concerns about the introduction of new restrictions.

The ICE index, which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), rose by 0.05%.