By simongray on Jul 19, 2013 06:58:22 GMT
The dollar weakened against most major currencies in a quiet days trading on Friday as traders reacted to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments that the Fed has no imminent plans to scale back the level of its bond buying program.
The Fed’s monthly $85 billion bond-buying program is seen to weaken the dollar, so any news regarding the possible scaling back of bond purchases has the opposite effect.
Whilst the dollar has strengthened in the last couple of sessions as traders bet that such monetary stimulus programs would be scaled back, possibly in a matter of weeks. The greenback weakened today after Bernanke’s told congress that the Fed will take its time unwinding such policies and may even delay the decision should economic data disappoint.
In U.S. trading on Friday, EUR/USD was up 0.17% at 1.3132, down from a high of 1.3152 and up from a low of 1.3088.
The pound was up on the back of better than expected lending data out of the U.K. GBP/USD was up 0.21% at 1.5256, down from a high of 1.5284 and up from a low of 1.5196.
Whilst the yen was up in late trading as investors adjusted positions before Japan’s upper house elections on Sunday, which could add momentum to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aggressive push for monetary easing to lift growth and fight deflation.
