By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was down on Friday morning in Asia, as an unexpected rise in the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits and a slight decline in Treasury yields dampened investor sentiment.
Data released by the U.S. on Thursday said that 1.106 million Americans claimed unemployment benefits during the previous week, surpassing the forecasted 925,000 claims prepared by Investing.com as well as last Thursday's 971,000 figure.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was flat, inching down 0.09% to 92.692 by 10:13 PM ET (3:13 AM GMT)
The large number of claims, added to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s warning of a slowdown in hiring just a day before, led to investor concerns about the U.S. economic recovery from COVID-19 and how to deal with the excess dollars already in circulation, thanks to massive quantitative easing programs that have rolled out by the Fed
“Sentiment for the dollar is weak, reflecting all the QE and the decline in real U.S. yields,” Monex Securities credit trader Tsutomu Soma told Reuters.
Investors are widely expected to continue favoring the euro due to the European Union (EU) reaching agreement on a COVID-19 recovery package for its members in late July.
Comparatively, across the pond, the U.S. Congress has yet to reach a consensus on the latest stimulus measures up for debate, another reason for investors to favor the euro.
‘The euro is strong because Europe has already put a firm backstop in place to support economic growth, which has boosted confidence in the euro and euro zone bonds,” Soma added.
The GBP/USD pair edged up 0.12% to 1.3226.
In Asia, the lack of major economic data ushered in a quiet end to the week as currency moves in the region were subdued on Friday.
The USD/JPY pair inched down 0.08% to 105.70.
The AUD/USD pair edged up 0.13% to 0.7200 and the NZD/USD pair inched up 0.08% to 0.6538.
The USD/CNY pair inched down 0.10% to 6.9077, with U.S.-China tensions continuing to simmer despite China confirming plans to reschedule talks with the U.S. to discuss trade and other matters. The talks were originally scheduled to take place on August 15.