• The dollar touched a one-week low against the yen on Thursday, as lingering worries about global trade tensions weighed on investors’ risk appetite.
The dollar last traded at 106.01 yen, down 0.3 percent on the day. Earlier on Thursday, the dollar had touched a trough of 105.825 yen, its lowest level since March 7.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major peers, held steady at 89.670. The dollar index has shed roughly 0.5 percent so far this week.
The euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.2378. The common currency, however, remained below Wednesday’s near one-week high of $1.2413.
Weak retail sales in February dampened further traders'expectations of a fourth interest rate hike in Theprobability dropped basis points between Monday and Tuesday,falling again this morning to percent, according to CMEGroup's FedWatch tool.· 2018. 80 26.4
• Japan’s lower house of parliament will approve the government’s nominees for the next central bank governor and deputy governors on Friday, a parliament source said.
• Japan’s central bank governor said on Thursday improving productivity in the services sector was essential for pulling the economy permanently out of deflation and called on firms to use their cash piles on wages and capital expenditure.
Haruhiko Kuroda said productivity in Japan’s non-manufacturing sector was only about 70 percent of the levels seen in the United States and Europe, adding that there was room to catch up with Japanese manufacturers, who are among the world’s most competitive.
• Moscow is still working on retaliatory measures against Britain for London’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Britain is to kick out 23 Russian diplomats, the biggest such expulsion since the Cold War, over a chemical attack on a former Russian double agent in England that Prime Minister Theresa May blamed on Moscow, an assessment backed by the United States.
• Oil prices seesawed on Thursday, supported by healthy global demand but at the same time held back by a relentless rise in U.S. production that is undermining efforts led by producer cartel OPEC to cut supplies and prop up markets.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up by 9 cents cents to $61.05 a barrel by 0742 GMT.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $64.91 per barrel, near their previous close.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng