(Reuters) – SingaporeThe dollar went up a little bit on Friday, but it was hard for it to make up its losses after falling at its fastest rate in two weeks. This was because investors were still nervous about the U.S. jobs report and growing fears of a recession.
The U.S. dollar index, which compares the dollar to a group of other currencies, rose 0.15 percent to 105.86 after falling 0.68 percent overnight, which was the biggest drop since July 19.
Investors are waiting for the important U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, which will be released at 12:30 GMT and give clues about how the U.S. economy is doing. Economists think that 250,000 new jobs will be added in July. This is after 372,000 jobs were added in June.
“Everyone seems to be thinking about payrolls tonight,” said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank. “I think that’s keeping things pretty calm” (OTC:NABZY).
But there may already be signs that the job market is getting better. Overnight data showed that more Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.
With the dollar getting weaker, the euro held steady at around $1.0237, even though it had gone up by 0.8% overnight. But the euro isn’t out of the woods yet because worries about an energy crisis are still there.
Russia says that the return of a turbine is stopping gas from getting to Europe. On Thursday, Moscow said it needed proof that the equipment was not subject to sanctions before it would return the turbine.
“We still think EUR/USD will trade below parity, and not just for a short time,” said the head of international economics at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Joseph Capurso (OTC:CMWAY).
Also, sterling fell 0.14 percent to $1.21405 and is down about 0.35 percent for the week, reversing gains made in the previous two weeks.
On Thursday, the Bank of England (BoE) raised its key interest rate by a half point to 1.75 percent.This is the highest it has been since late 2008, but the BoE warned that Britain is in for a long recession.
“The Bank of England’s decision to raise rates is not a surprise. “Still, the fact that it warns of persistently high inflation is a sobering reminder that central banks will keep fighting inflation even though there are risks of a recession, which makes the threat of a hard landing even greater.” The head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, Vishnu Varathan, said this.
In other news, the U.S. dollar rose 0.21 percent against the Japanese yen, rising to 133.215 yen per dollar after falling 0.69 percent overnight.
At $0.69645 and $0.6290, respectively, the risk-sensitive Aussie and Kiwi didn’t change much.