Forex Today: US Dollar rally loses steam, eyes on BoC rate decision
The US Dollar (USD) struggles to build on Tuesday's impressive gains early Wednesday, with the USD Index moving sideways slightly above 106.00. September New Home Sales will be featured in the US economic docket. Later in the day, the Bank of Canada (BoC) will announce monetary policy decisions and Governor Tiff Macklem will speak on the policy outlook in a press conference.
Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Tuesday and registered strong gains. Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield declined for the third straight trading day before stabilizing slightly above 4.8%. Nevertheless, the upbeat S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI data for October provided a boost to the USD in the American session. In the European morning on Wednesday, US stock index futures trade mixed.
Inflation in Australia, as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), advanced to 1.2% on a quarterly basis in the third quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported in the Asian session on Wednesday. On a yearly basis, the CPI rose 5.4% in Q3. Both of these readings came in above market expectations and helped AUD/USD gather bullish momentum. At the time of press, the pair was up nearly 0.4% on the day at 0.6380.
US Dollar price this week
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this week. US Dollar was the strongest against the Canadian Dollar.
The BoC is forecast to leave its policy rate unchanged at 5%. Revised growth and inflation projections will be scrutinized by investors once the statement is released. USD/CAD climbed to a three-week-high near 1.3750 on Tuesday and went into a consolidation phase around that level early Wednesday.
EUR/USD fell sharply on Tuesday and erased all the gains it recorded on Monday. At the time of press, the pair was moving sideways at around 1.0600. IFO will release Business Climate and Current Assessment data for October later in the session.
After coming within a touching distance of 1.2300 early Tuesday, GBP/USD turned south and closed the day deep in negative territory below 1.2200. In the European morning, the pair seems to have stabilized above 1.2150.
USD/JPY failed to make a decisive move in either direction and fluctuated in a tight channel below 150.00 for the sixth consecutive trading day on Tuesday. Early Wednesday, the pair extends its sideways grind at around 149.80.
Despite broad USD strength, XAU/USD managed to hold its ground, supported by retreating US yields on Tuesday. Gold was trading up and down in a narrow band slightly above $1,972 at the time of press.