By Rae Wee
SINGAPORE, April 4 (Reuters) - The dollar wobbled on
Tuesday after a slump in U.S. manufacturing activity last month
pointed to further signs of a slowing economy and trumped
renewed inflation concerns following OPEC+'s surprise output
cut.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey showed on
Monday that manufacturing activity fell to the lowest level in
nearly three years in March as new orders continued to contract,
with all subcomponents of its manufacturing PMI below the 50
threshold for the first time since 2009.
That sent the greenback broadly lower, tracking a slide in
U.S. Treasury yields, as investors pared expectations on how
much longer interest rates would need to remain in restrictive
territory.
Against the sliding dollar, the British pound and the
Australian and New Zealand dollars rose to multi-week highs in
early Asia trade on Tuesday.
Sterling peaked at its highest since late January
at $1.2425, extending the previous session's 0.7% gain.
The kiwi rose 0.2% to $0.6310, its highest since
mid-February, while the U.S. dollar index was marginally
lower at 102.02, having fallen more than 0.5% on Monday.
"The ISM manufacturing report for March was a dud," said
economists at Wells Fargo. "The closest thing we get to good
news in (the) report is that the slowing in the factory sector
is pushing prices lower and supply chains are continuing to
heal, benefiting from the slack.
"Beyond that, the rest of the themes were those that often
precede an economic recession."
The euro was last 0.03% higher at $1.0905, having
gained more than 0.5% on Monday. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar slipped 0.09% to 132.35.
Futures pricing show that markets expect the Federal Reserve
to begin cutting rates as early as September through the end of
the year, with rates seen just above 4.3% by December. The two-year Treasury yield , which typically
moves in step with interest rate expectations, was last at
3.9841%, having fallen nearly 10 basis points on Monday. The sluggish U.S. economic data overshadowed renewed
inflation fears after the OPEC+ group jolted markets with plans
to cut more production, a move which sent oil benchmarks jumping
6% on Monday.
"Apart from the direct cost impact of the 6-7% jump in oil
prices, economic headwinds are also posed by the prospects of
stickier inflation prolonging the global tightening cycle (and)
intensifying policy trade-offs," said Vishnu Varathan, head of
economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank.
Elsewhere, the Aussie steadied after rising to a
more than one-month high of $0.67935 earlier in the session,
ahead of a key monetary policy decision by the Reserve Bank of
Australia (RBA) later on Tuesday.
The RBA will pause policy tightening according to a poll of
analysts, although a strong minority still forecast a hike.
Data out last week showed Australian inflation slowed to an
eight-month low in February, due in part to a sharp retreat in
prices for holiday travel and accommodation.
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(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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