• MTS Economic News_20160407

    7 Apr 2016 | Economic News

The dollar slid to a 17-month low against the yen on Thursday, pressured by minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting last month that underscored caution about future interest rate hikes.

The dollar fell to 109.10 yen at one point, its weakest against its Japanese counterpart since October 2014. The dollar last traded at 109.17 yen, down 0.6 percent on the day.

The euro slid 0.6 percent against the yen to about 124.42 yen.

Against the greenback, the euro held steady at $1.1398, not far from a 5-1/2-month high of $1.1438 touched last week.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 94.419 after plumbing 94.239 on Wednesday, its lowest since October last year.

Minutes from the Fed's March 15-16 policy meeting suggested that the central bank appears unlikely to raise interest rates before June due to widespread concern among policymakers over their limited ability to counter the blow of a global economic slowdown.

Oil steadied at around $40 per barrel on Thursday as a surprise fall in U.S. inventories the previous day was offset by an increase in exports from Iraq, underlining global oversupply.

Brent futures were at $39.89 at 0757 GMT, up 5 cents from the last close and about 8 percent above lows reached earlier this week. U.S. crude futures were at $37.80 per barrel, also up 5 cents from their last close.

Oil exports from Iraq's southern ports have risen to an average of 3.494 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, an official from the state-run South Oil Company said on Thursday. This was above the 3.286 million bpd average for March.


Reference: Reuters

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