Euro Gains Against Dollar Ahead of US Payroll Report

The Australian dollar weakened 0.2% from its previous close, while Malaysia’s ringgit lost 0.5%.

USA crude futures were up about 1.3 percent at $45.32 a barrel, after a choppy session in which traders monitored the unpredictable path of storm Joaquin, and whether it would strike the New Jersey coast and possibly disrupt refineries there.

Markets in China and India were closed for a public holiday. The common currency was poised to lose a modest 0.2 percent this week.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is 0.4% lower at 17655.18 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is down 0.2% at 5099.80, following a mixed performance overnight in US markets. It fell below the forecast made by Reuters poll.

The dollar was buying 119.96 yen, broadly flat from late USA trading, while the euro was steady at $1.1180.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped seven points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,912 as of 11:32 a.m. Eastern time. However, it also indicated the bleak outlook for the Asian region as a whole.

“The difference between new orders and inventories is a good leading indicator for industrial production in Asia”, said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics research at HSBC in Hong Kong. The MSCI’s broadest gauge of world stocks fell to a two-year low on fear that many firms, especially those in the resource sector that had thrived on strong demand from China, might need a major downsizing to deal with lower growth. Glencore’s shares on Hong Kong and London bourses were steeply down 28 percent over debt worries causing concern for investors.

The euro edged up against the dollar as uncertainty over global growth led market players to flock to the single European currency, deemed a relatively safe asset. UK’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX and France’s CACM-40 were trading on weak note.

The Conference Board reported stated its index of shopper confidence rose to an eight-year excessive of 103.zero this month from a studying of 101.three in August, whose determine was revised from a beforehand…

The Hang Seng Index climbed 1.50 per cent, or 313.23 points, at 21,159.53.

“While we wouldn’t discount this, the reality for markets is that it is more the pace, than the specific timing of hikes, that matters, with a gradualist Fed expected to cap upward pressure on Treasury yields”.