Asian session review: The dollar declined slightly against the major currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar fell against the euro and declined slightly against the yen.

The ICE Dollar index, which shows the value of the dollar against six major world currencies, fell by 0.11%. However, at the end of this week, the dollar index may show a slight increase. The US currency received support on the back of higher yields on US government bonds.

However, the difficult situation in the labor market and the soft monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve System largely limited the dollar's rise. In addition, the prospects for a global economic recovery due to the adoption of large-scale stimulus packages by countries and the gradual introduction of coronavirus vaccines lead to a decrease in the demand of traders for safe assets.

According to data released yesterday by the US Department of Labor, the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for the first time increased by 13 thousand last week - to 861 thousand people. A week earlier, the number of requests was 848 thousand, and not 793 thousand, as previously reported. Analysts on average expected a decline in the number of applications to 765 thousand.

The pound continued its gains against the US dollar after hitting a two-and-a-half-year high earlier this week amid hopes of an early easing of quarantine restrictions in the UK thanks to mass vaccination against COVID-19.