Asian session review: the US dollar was trading steadily against major currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar was almost unchanged against the major currencies. Risk appetite in global markets has decreased recently amid the spread of the COVID-19 "delta" strain, which supports the dollar and other "safe haven" assets.

There is still optimism that vaccination will cope with the new strain, but a number of regions of the world, including Asian countries, need much faster progress in vaccination to contain the spread of the coronavirus. If the rate of vaccination does not accelerate, new quarantine measures may be required, which will slow down the pace of economic recovery.

The market's focus this week is on US unemployment data for June, which will be released on Friday. Analysts expect an increase in the number of jobs in June by 706 thousand and a decrease in unemployment to 5.6% from 5.8% in May.

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.

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 0.03%.