· 'Resolutely' dovish Fed sends dollar to 4th weekly loss; loonie at 3-year high
The U.S. dollar traded up 0.11% at 90.714 against a basket of its peers. The dollar index is down from levels above 91.2 reached in the previous week.
The U.S. dollar skidded toward a fourth straight weekly decline against a basket of major peers on Friday, as the Federal Reserve stuck to its message of ultra-low interest rates for longer.
The dollar index was on course to end the week 0.2% lower, bringing its losses for April to 2.7%. A four-week losing streak would be the longest since the six-week slide to the end of last July, and the monthly loss would also be the biggest since July’s 4% slump.
The Canadian dollar climbed to a more-than-three-year high of C$1.2268 per greenback on Friday, on track for a 1.6% weekly gain that would be its biggest since the start of November.
At the conclusion of the Fed’s latest policy meeting on Wednesday, Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the U.S. economy’s growth, but said there was not yet enough evidence of “substantial further progress” toward recovery to warrant a change to its ultra-loose monetary settings.
That growth accelerated in the first quarter, buoyed by government stimulus cheques, setting the course for what is expected to be the strongest performance this year in nearly four decades.
Signs that a strengthening economy, particularly in the labour market, might force the Fed into an earlier tapering of its asset-purchase programme had pushed the dollar index, or DXY, to a five-month high at the end of March.
The Fed’s dovishness was in marked contrast to the Bank of Canada, which has already begun to taper its asset purchases. Canada’s commodity-linked loonie got additional support from a surge in oil to a six-week peak along with higher lumber prices.
Rising commodity prices also supported the Australian dollar, which gained 0.2% to $0.77785, climbing back toward the six-week high of $0.78180 touched Thursday.
The euro has largely flat at $1.21165, near the two-month high of $1.2150 set the previous session. The shared currency is up 0.2% for the week and 3.3% for the month.
The yen, a traditional haven, saw opposite fortunes, hurt by a recovery in U.S. Treasury yields and a rally to record highs for global stocks that sapped demand for the safest assets.
Japan’s currency changed hands at 108.81 per dollar, near the two-week low of 109.22 from Thursday, setting it up for a loss of about 0.9% for the week.
China’s yuan traded near its strongest since March 3 in the offshore market, last changing hands at 6.4635 per dollar, even as gauges of Chinese factory activity showed a loss of momentum in April.
The yuan has jumped some 1.5% this month from a four-month low of 6.5875 on April 1, but Mizuho strategist Ken Cheung wrote in a client note that a re-pricing of growth trajectories for China versus the United States will keep the rally in check from here.
In cryptocurrencies, ether hovered below a record high of $2,800.89 set on Thursday, after being lifted this week on media reports about the European Investment Bank’s plans to launch a “digital bond” sale on the ethereum blockchain network.
Bigger rival bitcoin traded at $54,256.24, vacillating around that level this week after dipping as low as $47,004.20 on Sunday, following a sharp retreat from the record high of $64,895.22 marked in the middle of the month.
· Dollar heads for longest weekly losing streak since July
The U.S. dollar skidded towards a fourth straight weekly decline and its longest weekly streak of losses since last July against a basket of major peers on Friday, as the Federal Reserve stuck to its message of ultra-low interest rates for longer.
The dollar index was on course to end the week 0.2% lower, bringing its losses for April to 2.7%. A four-week losing streak would be the longest since the six-week slide to the end of last July, and the monthly loss would also be the biggest since July’s 4% slump.
· UK house prices jump by most since 2004 as tax break extended
British house prices jumped by 2.1% in April, their biggest monthly rise in more than 17 years, after finance minister Rishi Sunak unexpectedly extended a tax break on property sales, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Friday.
House prices are 7.1% above their level a year earlier and close to December’s growth rate of 7.3%, which was the highest in nearly six years after COVID lockdowns boosted demand for more spacious housing.
· German Q1 output shrinks by 1.7% as lockdown dampens consumption
The German economy contracted by a greater than expected 1.7% in the first quarter as a lockdown in place since November to contain the coronavirus stifled private consumption in Europe’s largest economy, data showed on Friday.
· French economy grows 0.4% in Q1, beats expectations
The French economy grew more than expected in the first quarter, as consumer spending and business investment held up despite coronavirus curbs, official data showed on Friday.
The euro zone’s second-biggest economy grew 0.4% in the first three months of the year from the fourth quarter, when it had shrunk 1.4%, the INSEE stats agency said.
The government progressively tightened curbs during the first quarter and France entered a third national lockdown at the end of March as infections spiked and pressure on hospitals increased.
· Italian Q1 GDP falls 0.4% q/q as services hit by coronavirus curbs
· China's factory activity growth slows on supply bottlenecks, soft demand
China’s factory activity growth slowed and missed forecasts in April as supply bottlenecks and rising costs weighed on production and overseas demand lost momentum.
The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 51.1 in April from 51.9 in March, data from the national Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.
China’s economic recovery quickened sharply in the first quarter of the year with record growth of 18.3%, shaking off the hit from last year’s COVID-19-induced slump. Analysts now expect the world’s second-largest economy to grow 8.6% in 2021.
The robust economic recovery has outpaced rebounds seen in manufacturing competitors such as India, which are still struggling to contain new waves of coronavirus outbreaks.
Policymakers in Beijing have signalled they are keen to avoid sudden policy changes that could derail the recovery.
· Growth in China's services sector slows in April - official PMI
Activity in China’s services sector grew at a slower pace in April but remained well in expansionary territory, official data showed on Friday, as the domestic consumption recovery continued.
The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slipped to 54.9 from 56.3 in March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.
· Taiwan's Q1 GDP grows fastest in more than a decade
Taiwan’s economy grew at its fastest pace in more than a decade in the first three months of 2021 as the “work from home” boom sparked strong global demand for the island’s hi-tech exports and charged up the economy.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 8.16% in January-March from a year earlier, preliminary data from the statistics agency showed on Friday, up from the fourth quarter’s 5.09% rise.
The reading was well above the 6.1% increase forecast in a Reuters poll and was the fastest pace since growth of 11.54% in the third quarter of 2010.
· Japan's March factory output rebounds as car production jumps-govt
Japan’s factory output rose 2.2% in March, government data showed on Friday, compared with a median market forecast for a 2.0% decline.
Japan's factory activity expands at fastest pace since early 2018 - PMI
Japan’s factory activity expanded in April at the fastest pace since early 2018 on a global demand recovery, a private sector survey showed on Friday, though new coronavirus curbs cast a shadow over the overall economic outlook.
That was up from a flash reading of 53.3 and the previous month’s final of 52.7. It meant manufacturing activity came in above the 50.0 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for the third straight month.
· AstraZeneca reports $275 million sales of COVID shot, expects hit to ease
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine delivered $275 million in first-quarter sales while shaving three cents per share from earnings, the drugmaker said on Friday as it posted better-than-expected results and forecast second half growth.
· First Moderna COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Japan - NHK
The first delivery of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Japan on Friday, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing airline officials.
Japan has so far only cleared Pfizer Inc’s coronavirus vaccine and is expected to approve Moderna’s in May.
· Indian states run out of COVID-19 vaccines, nationwide inoculation delayed
Several Indian states have run out of COVID-19 vaccines a day before a planned widening of a nationwide inoculation drive, authorities said on Friday, as new infections in the crisis-hit country surged to another daily record.
India reported 386,452 news cases in the past 24 hours, while deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data.
However, medical experts believe actual COVID-19 numbers may be five to 10 times greater than the official tally.
India has added about 7.7 million cases since the end of February, when its second wave picked up steam, according to a Reuters tally. In contrast, it took India nearly six months to add the previous 7.7 million cases.
· Singapore's hot housing market faces risk of cooling curbs
· Oil prices slip from six-week high as India's demand worries weigh
Oil prices slipped on Friday, taking a breather after touching their highest in six weeks as concerns of wider lockdowns in India and Brazil to curb the COVID-19 pandemic offset a bullish outlook on summer fuel demand and economic recovery.
Brent crude fell 31 cents, or 0.5%, to $68.25 a barrel by 0630 GMT, the last day's trading for the front-month June contract. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was at $64.59 a barrel, down 42 cents, or 0.7%.
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