Dollar eases after US data; yen slumps as BOJ keeps policy ultra-loose
U.S. dollar pared gains against a basket of currencies on Friday after data showed U.S. business activity nearing a standstill in September, while the yen slumped after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates in negative territory.
S&P Global said its flash U.S.
Composite PMI index, which tracks the manufacturing and service sectors, dipped to a reading of 50.1 in September from a final reading for August of 50.2. September's result was barely above the 50 level that separates expansion and contraction.
The U.S. economy so far this year has defied projections for sliding into a recession that most economists had expected would be triggered by the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate increases aimed at quelling inflation.
«A modest chunk of weakness but weakness nonetheless,» said Michael Brown, market analyst at Trader X, said of the U.S.
data.
«I wonder whether the PMIs are the first chink in the U.S. exceptionalism narrative which is giving USD bulls a convenient excuse to take some profit after what looks set to be a 10th straight weekly advance,» Brown said.
The U.S. dollar index — which measures the currency against six major counterparts — was about flat on the day at 105.41 after having risen as high as 105.78, earlier in the session.
