· Dollar holds upper hand after retail sales boost
The dollar held near three-week highs against a basket of major currencies on Friday after a raft of strong U.S. economic data rekindled expectations for earlier policy tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The dollar index stood at 92.880, near Thursday’s three-week high of 92.965.
The euro hit a three-week low of $1.17505 overnight and last traded at $1.1765.
The yen has so far shown limited reaction to ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) leadership race, which will formally kick off on Friday ahead of Sept. 29 vote. The LDP’s parliamentary dominance means the party’s new leader will become prime minister.
Many investors see vaccine minister Taro Kono as a front-runner, followed by former foreign minister Fumio Kishida and former internal affair minister Sanae Takaichi.
· Oil steady as U.S. storm-hit supply returns slowly
Oil prices barely moved on Friday even as more supply came back online in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico following two hurricanes, with benchmark contracts on track to post weekly gains of around 4% as the output recovery is seen lagging demand.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 2 cents to $72.59 a barrel at 0147 GMT, after settling unchanged on Thursday.
Brent crude futures inched up 4 cents to $75.71 a barrel, adding to a 21 cent gain on Thursday.
Both contracts were on course to climb about 4% for the week, with Brent near a seven-week high and WTI near a six-week high, as output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has recovered more slowly than expected after Hurricane Ida damaged facilities in August and tropical storm Nicholas hit this week.
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