Asian session review: the US dollar declined against most currencies

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

The ICE index, which tracks the dollar's performance against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), fell 0.14%.

Since the beginning of April, the euro has gained about 3% against the US dollar after an unfavorable first quarter. At the beginning of this year, traders were betting that the rapid recovery of the US economy would force the Federal Reserve to normalize its policy and raise rates, which contributed to the attractiveness of the dollar.

The focus of the market this week is the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), which will be held on Thursday. Traders do not expect the ECB to take any action, but will wait for signals from it regarding the future normalization of policy.

The pound rose moderately against the US dollar on the back of data on the UK labor market. The Office for National Statistics said that the latest figures suggest that the jobs market has been broadly stable in recent months. Data from our Labour Force Survey (LFS), for the three months to February 2021, are little changed on the quarter. Estimates show a small quarterly decrease in the unemployment rate while the economic inactivity rate increased, as it did during the first coronavirus restrictions; the employment rate continued to fall. With the reintroduction of many coronavirus restrictions, total hours worked decreased on the quarter.