Dollar And Yen Steady After Surging Up On Eurozone Worries

The dollar and yen, which extended their Wednesday's rally
against other major currencies in early Asian trading on Thursday
amid renewed worries about the European debt crisis, held steady
after 7:15 pm ET. Risk aversion grew in markets yesterday following
news that the European Central Bank's balance sheet has jumped to a
record high. The ECB said its balance sheet surged up by 239
billion euros in the week ended December 23rd to an all-time high
of 2.73 trillion euros. The sharp increase reflected a 214 billion
euro increase in lending to euro-area banks. The news regarding the
ECB balance sheet overshadowed news that Italy held two successful
bond auctions that drew yields that were well below a month ago. In
today's early Asian trading, the US dollar jumped to near a 1-year
high of 1.2889 against the euro, 9-day high of 1.0047 against the
Aussie, 15-day high of 1.5430 against the pound, 2-week high of
0.9454 against the franc, 8-day high of 0.7657 against the NZ
dollar and a 1-week high of 1.0271 against the Canadian dollar.
Meanwhile, the yen rose to 9-day highs of 78.23 against the Aussie
and 59.82 against the NZ dollar, fresh 10-year high of 100.38
against the euro, 2-week high of 82.40 against the franc, 1-month
high of 120.11 against the pound and an 8-day high of 75.85 against
the Canadian dollar. At present, the greenback is worth 1.2920
against the euro, 1.5449 against the pound, 0.9440 against the
franc, 1.0078 against the Aussie, 0.7684 against the NZ dollar and
1.0246 against the Canadian dollar. The yen is currently trading at
100.56 against the euro, 120.24 against the pound, 82.49 against
the franc, 78.44 against the Aussie, 59.81 against the NZ dollar
and 75.99 against the Canadian dollar. The Eurozone M3 money supply
for November and the Italian business confidence for December are
slated for release in the European session. The U.S. pending home
sales for November, weekly jobless claims for the week ended
December 24 and the Chicago PMI for December are expected in the
New York morning session. The material has been provided by
Instaforex Company - instaforex.com