During early Asian deals on Thursday, the U.S. dollar jumped against its major counterparts as the International Monetary Fund said it planned to sell more gold in the market, pushing down commodity-linked currencies.
The IMF announced that it would begin phased open-market sales of the remaining 191.3 tonnes of gold under a programme launched last year to raise new resources for lending.
Stronger-than-expected U.S. housing and industrial data lifted the dollar yesterday. Adding to dollar's uptrend, minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting showed policy makers saw a need to begin a program of assets sales in the near future and expect the economic recovery to continue.
The US dollar rose to a 2-day high of 1.0491 against the Canadian dollar and 0.8947 against the Aussie in early Asian deals on Thursday. The next upside target level for the greenback is seen at 1.058 against the loonie and 0.879 against the aussie. The greenback-loonie and aussie-greenback pairs were worth 1.0466 and 0.8984, respectively at yesterday's close.
During early Asian deals on Thursday, the US currency climbed to a 2-day high of 0.6996 against the NZ dollar. This may be compared to Wednesday's close of 0.7027. On the upside, 0.690 is seen as the next target level for the greenback.
The dollar that closed yesterday's trading at 1.5674 against the pound strengthened to a 2-day high of 1.5643 during early Asian deals on Thursday. The near term resistance for the dollar is seen at 1.558.
In early Asian trading on Thursday, the dollar jumped to a 6-day high of 1.3559 against the euro and 1.0815 against the franc. If the dollar advances further, it may target 1.353 against the euro and 1.083 against the franc. The euro-dollar pair closed trading at 1.3599 and the dollar-franc pair at 1.0789 on Wednesday.
The euro fell even after European finance ministers on Tuesday gave Greece a one-month reprieve, until March 16, to show its deficit reduction plan was being rolled out effectively. They set the same deadline for themselves to decide what should happen next.
However, the dollar declined against the yen in early Asian deals on Thursday as traders reacted to the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision.
As expected, the Bank of Japan kept its policy target interest rate on hold at 0.1% today, as relatively stable financial markets and strong recent economic signs gave the bank time to gauge the effects of its previous policy measures.
The market is now watching what BoJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa has to say later in the day about the possibility of further easing - such as by an expansion of a program introduced in December to add liquidity to the market by lending Y10 trillion in three-month funds to banks at a 0.1% fixed-rate.
At 9:55 pm ET, the dollar touched a low of 90.90 against the yen. On the downside, 90.7 is seen as the next target level for the US currency. The dollar-yen pair that soared to near a 4-week high of 91.40 at 4:05 pm ET Wednesday closed the day's trading at 91.27.
At present, the dollar is worth 90.94 against the yen, 1.357 per euro, 1.566 against the pound, 1.080 against the franc, 0.7005 against the kiwi, 0.895 against the aussie and 1.048 against the loonie.
The Swiss trade balance for January and ZEW survey results for February are due in the upcoming European session.
The U.S. PPI and leading indicators for January, weekly jobless claims for the week ended February 13 and the results of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing survey for February are expected to influence trading in the New York session.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.