The U.S. dollar was steady at the start of the Asian trading session on Monday as traders eagerly awaited the central bank announcements that are expected later this week. On the docket are releases from the Bank of Japan on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of England on Thursday. The dollar index, the measure of the greenback against its primary trading partners, was up 0.03 percent to 94.69 .DXY as of 10:10 a.m. HK/SIN.
The dollar was unchanged against the euro, but it managed to eke out some gains against the yen, trading up 0.04 percent to 111.06. The dollar’s widest morning gain was against the Canadian dollar, where it gained 0.15 percent in the early morning to trade at $1.3071.
Stock Markets in Focus
In addition to watching the central banks closely, traders are looking carefully at the stock markets this week, to see if July will end in the green. Historically speaking, if the market gains from April through July it has a higher likelihood of ending the year higher. As it stands now, the S&P 500 is poised to end July higher, notwithstanding any sudden, unexpected movements.
More than 140 S&P 500 companies will be reporting their earnings this weeks, and U.S. stock futures dipped on Sunday night in advance of the reports. Friday saw troubles for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average after a slew or weak earnings reports in the tech sector, including from Facebook, Intel and Twitter.
Asian traders shared the tensions, and most Asian indexes were lower early on Monday. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.48 percent, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.59 percent and Hon Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.25 percent. South Korea’s Kospi also traded lower, down a modest 0.02 percent in the first hour of the trading day.