The U.S. Dollar slipped slightly versus a group of major currencies in Friday’s trading in Tokyo, as investors move their investments out of perceived safe haven currencies and into high yield currencies. Investors continue to have a positive outlook on the overall global economy, and believe that the recession is waning. Nonetheless, Asian trading has been somewhat subdued in anticipation of the May employment figures coming out of the United States. The U.S. Labor Department is scheduled to release their findings at 12:30 p.m. (GMT), and investors are anxious to learn whether or not the report will show worse-than-expected numbers.
As reported at 2:01 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar Index, which gauges the Dollar’s performance versus six major currencies, traded at 79.390 .DXY, a fall of .1%. This past week, the Dollar Index was virtually unchanged; in May the Index lost more than 6.5% as worries about the escalating U.S. debt burden compelled investors to move away from the perceived safe haven of the reserve currency and into high risk currencies.
The European Central Bank yesterday announced that key interest rates would remain unchanged, helping the single currency Euro to gain .1% versus the U.S. Dollar; the Euro traded at $1.4197 and neared $1.4339, a 5-month high hit on the EBS trading platform in the beginning of the week.