Commodity-linked curriences rise in Asia

AFP, TOKYO: The dollar eased against most rivals in Asian trade yesterday, with commodity-linked units enjoying support from a slight uptick in oil prices, while its Australian counterpart surged on the back of a strong jobs report.
The retreat in the greenback comes just a week before the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting where it is widely expected to hike interest rates, with some economists suggesting the move has been priced into the US unit.
Crude prices edged up in Asia after the Department of Energy said US inventories fell 3.6 million barrels in the week ending December 4. The gains were a small chink of light for oil traders, with the black gold having slumped about nine percent since Friday’s decision by the OPEC oil exporters club not to cut output despite a global oversupply and weakness in the world economy.
That helped currencies reliant on commodities, with the Malaysian ringgit up 0.3 percent and the Australian dollar almost one percent up. Indonesia’s rupiah added 0.4 percent and the Singapore dollar added 0.1 percent.
Adding to the Aussie’s strength were better-than-expected jobs figures—unemployment is now at its lowest since April 2014 -- which eased expectations the Australian central bank will cut interest rates from already record lows.

Commodity-linked curriences rise in Asia

AFP, TOKYO: The dollar eased against most rivals in Asian trade yesterday, with commodity-linked units enjoying support from a slight uptick in oil prices, while its Australian counterpart surged on the back of a strong jobs report. The retreat in the greenback comes just a week before the Federal Reserves next policy meeting where it is widely expected to hike interest rates, with some economists suggesting the move has been priced into the US unit. Crude prices edged up in Asia after the Department of Energy said US inventories fell 3.6 million barrels in the week ending December 4. The gains were a small chink of light for oil traders, with the black gold having slumped about nine percent since Fridays decision by the OPEC oil exporters club not to cut output despite a global oversupply and weakness in the world economy. That helped currencies reliant on commodities, with the Malaysian ringgit up 0.3 percent and the Australian dollar almost one percent up. Indonesias rupiah added 0.4 percent and the Singapore dollar added 0.1 percent. Adding to the Aussies strength were better-than-expected jobs figuresunemployment is now at its lowest since April 2014 -- which eased expectations the Australian central bank will cut interest rates from already record lows.