By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was down on Monday morning in Asia, with a lack of big moves ahead of the U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday and the release of U.S. economic data later in the week.
Although boosted by a rebound in U.S. stocks during Friday’s session and hovering near a two-month peak, signs of a stall in the U.S. economic recovery and the continuous political uncertainty in the run up to the country’s November’s presidential election capped gains.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched down 0.04% to 94.588 by 10 PM ET (2 AM GMT). The dollar hit a two-month high during the previous week, the biggest weekly rise since early April.
The USD/JPY pair edged down 0.14% to 105.45.
The AUD/USD pair was up 0.37% to 0.7053 and the NZD/USD pair edged up 0.20% to 0.6555.
The USD/CNY pair inched up 0.01% to 6.8213 and the GBP/USD pair edged up 0.15% to 1.2765.
With November’s election drawing closer, investors will be looking to the first presidential debate scheduled for Tuesday amid the uncertainty.
“Few people will be trying to bet on the election outcome. At least they will wait until tomorrow’s TV debate,” Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY) director of FOREX Kyosuke Suzuki told Reuters.
Although hopes for the U.S. Congress to pass the latest stimulus measures before the election are dimming, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, expressed hope on Sunday that a deal can be reached as talks continue between the Democrats and the Republicans.
Investors are also looking to the week's U.S. data, including September’s Conference Board (CB) consumer confidence index on Tuesday and the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) on Thursday, which are expected to show a slowdown in the recovery as many of the stimulus measures have expired, cutting consumer spending.
In other data news, Friday’s data on U.S. currency futures positions released by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday showed investors holding a big net short position of $33.989 billion in the dollar.
Although the amount was up from the previous week’s $31.524 billion, and near the highest level in almost ten years, the data also showed a large net long position in the euro, which increased slightly during the previous week to $27.922 billion.
“We need to be wary of a weaker euro due to further unwinding of euro long positions. We have no shortage of concerns in Europe, including the rise of COVID-19 infections in France and so on, attempts by European Central Bank policymakers to talk down the euro and Brexit,” SMBC Nikko Securities chief currency strategist Makoto Noji said in a note.