By Barbara Kollmeyer and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
The dollar slumped against the euro Friday, hitting a two-week
low against the common currency and maintaining a weekly loss.
The euro gained against the greenback despite persistent worries
about debt-racked Greece, with eurozone leaders making increasingly
harsh comments
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frustrated-eurozone-players-show-greece-sharp-side-of-their-tongue-2015-04-24)
about the nation's finance minister.
Improving German business sentiment
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ifo-german-business-mood-at-highest-since-june-2015-04-24)
helped the euro, while soft data on U.S. durable-goods orders
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/durable-goods-orders-jump-4-in-march-but-investment-falls-again-2015-04-24)
weighed on the dollar.
The durables report was the latest in a series of downbeat
numbers that help reduce investors' confidence that the Federal
Reserve will raise short-term rates sometime this year. A headline
number in the durables data beat forecasts, but a key measure of
business investment fell, as did so-called core orders.
The euro (EURUSD) was up 0.5% to $1.0869 and showed a weekly
gain of 0.6%, according to FactSet data.
The euro-dollar pair has "consolidated in quiet trade around the
1.0800" level in the past week, "despite ongoing concerns about
Greece's debt situation and Friday's Eurogroup meetings," said
Matthew Weller, senior technical analyst at Forex.com, in emailed
comments. "In fact, the pair actually edged higher on the week to
trade up into the mid-1.0800s as of writing on Friday afternoon,"
he added.
Meanwhile, the ICE dollar index (DXY) a measure of the dollar
against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.4% at 96.91. It
showed a weekly decline of nearly 0.6%.
The dollar (USDJPY) was down 0.6% against the yet to Yen118.88,
eyeing a weekly dip of less than 0.1%.
Some investors remained sidelined ahead of the Federal Open
Market Committee and the Bank of Japan's policy setting meeting
that are scheduled to conclude Wednesday and Thursday next week,
respectively.
But from these key events, "it's hard to expect something will
move dramatically in the near future," said Ayako Sera, head of
market research department at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
The Fed is unlikely to raise rates soon, while the BOJ is also
unlikely to loosen its monetary policy despite some speculation to
do so among some investors. "That's the biggest factor preventing a
stronger dollar," she said.
Hiroyuki Kachi in Tokyo for The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones
Newswires contributed to this article.
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