© Reuters.
By Zhang Mengying
Investing.com – The dollar was up on Friday morning in Asia ahead of U.S. inflation data and after the European Central Bank (ECB) suggested future interest rate hikes.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched down 0.09% to 103.127 by 1:09 AM ET (5:10 AM GMT).
The USD/JPY pair fell 0.40% to 133.79.
The AUD/USD pair edged up 0.13% to 0.7106 and the NZD/USD pair edged up 0.19% to 0.6404.
The USD/CNY pair inched down 0.03% to 6.6900, while GBP/USD pair edged up 0.10% to 1.2502.
China’s producer inflation cooled to its slowest pace in 14 months in May. Official data showed that the producer price index (PPI) rose 6.4% year-on-year in May, while a rise of 8.0% was recorded in April, due to a weaker demand for steel, aluminum, and other raw materials given the COVID-19 disruption.
The data also showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.1% year-on-year in May.
Shanghai has resumed partial lockdowns due to new COVID-19 outbreaks after it eased restrictions on June 1.
Meanwhile, investors are digesting the signals of interest rate hikes from the ECB with a quarter-point interest rate hike in July and a bigger hike if inflation remains high. The inflation in the eurozone now exceeds 8%. The ECB will also cease net asset purchases on July 1, 2022.
Short-dated U.S. Treasury yields jumped higher.
Now investors shifted their focus to U.S. inflation data, due later in the day, for more cues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes path.
The analysts at Westpac said the dollar index was set to settle between 101 to 105, and could stay higher if U.S. CPI data and next week’s Fed meeting underscore a higher yield, according to Reuters.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was at $29,800.
