<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Kim Coghill)
Twitter: @AnkurBanerjee17;)) By Ankur Banerjee and Kevin Buckland
SINGAPORE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar hovered
near the middle of recent ranges versus major peers on Thursday
as investors digested comments from a slew of Federal Reserve
officials, while crucial consumer inflation data loomed next
week.
Meanwhile, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar rallied
against a backdrop of gains for U.S. equity futures and a more
hawkish Reserve Bank. The New Zealand dollar also advanced.
Moving to a federal funds rate of between 5.00% and 5.25%
"seems a very reasonable view of what we'll need to do this year
in order to get the supply and demand imbalances down," New York
Fed President John Williams said at a Wall Street Journal event.
Williams's comments followed Chair Jerome Powell's sticking
by his interest rate outlook on Tuesday, when he reiterated that
a process of "disinflation" was underway.
The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency
against six rivals, slipped 0.13% to 103.32, pulling away from
the one-month high of 103.96 it touched on Tuesday at the peak
of a rally following Friday's stronger-than-expected jobs
report. At the same time, 103 has provided a firm floor all
week.
The employment data initially raised expectations that the
Fed might go back to an aggressive monetary policy stance, but
Powell did not lean that way in his speech.
Investors will closely watch consumer price inflation data
on Tuesday for additional clues on the policy outlook.
OCBC currency strategist Christopher Wong said the pace of
rebound in the dollar was showing tentative signs of moderation
but the currency was still somewhat supported by Fed suggestions
that rate hikes will continue.
"On one hand Powell's comments at the Economic Club of
Washington the night before were less hawkish but on the other
hand, Fed officials such as Williams (and Fed Governor) Lisa
Cook took the opportunity to turn up the hawkish rhetoric," said
Wong.
Market pricing anticipates the Fed funds rate peaking just
above 5.1% by July then falling by the end of the year to 4.8%. The euro rose 0.18% to $1.07325, pulling away from
the one-month low of $1.067 it touched on Tuesday, as it
continued to find support from Wednesday's hawkish comments from
two German officials at the European Central Bank (ECB).
"From where I stand today we need further, significant rate
hikes," German central bank chief Joachim Nagel told the
newspaper Boersen-Zeitung on Tuesday.
His colleague Isabel Schnabel said it is not yet clear that
the ECB rate hikes so far would bring inflation back to 2%.
The Japanese yen was flat at 131.455 per dollar,
while sterling was last trading up 0.1% at $1.2087.
The Australian dollar rose 0.49% to $0.6958, while
the kiwi was up 0.66% at $0.63485.
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