(RTTNews) - During early Asian deals on Thursday, the U.S. dollar jumped against its major counterparts as the International Monetary Fund said it planned to sell more gold in the market, pushing down commodity-linked currencies.
The IMF announced that it would begin phased open-market sales of the remaining 191.3 tonnes of gold under a programme launched last year to raise new resources for lending.
Stronger-than-expected U.S. housing and industrial data lifted the dollar yesterday. Adding to dollar's uptrend, minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting showed policy makers saw a need to begin a program of assets sales in the near future and expect the economic recovery to continue.
The US dollar rose to a 2-day high of 1.0491 against the Canadian dollar and 0.8947 against the Aussie in early Asian deals on Thursday. The next upside target level for the greenback is seen at 1.058 against the loonie and 0.879 against the aussie. The greenback-loonie and aussie-greenback pairs were worth 1.0466 and 0.8984, respectively at yesterday's close.
During early Asian deals on Thursday, the US currency climbed to a 2-day high of 0.6996 against the NZ dollar. This may be compared to Wednesday's close of 0.7027. On the upside, 0.690 is seen as the next target level for the greenback.
The dollar that closed yesterday's trading at 1.5674 against the pound strengthened to a 2-day high of 1.5643 during early Asian deals on Thursday. The near term resistance for the dollar is seen at 1.558.
In early Asian trading on Thursday, the dollar jumped to a 6-day high of 1.3559 against the euro and 1.0815 against the franc. If the dollar advances further, it may target 1.353 against the euro and 1.083 against the franc. The euro-dollar pair closed trading at 1.3599 and the dollar-franc pair at 1.0789 on Wednesday.
The euro fell even after European finance ministers on Tuesday gave Greece a one-month reprieve, until March 16, to show its deficit reduction plan was being rolled out effectively. They set the same deadline for themselves to decide what should happen next.
However, the dollar declined against the yen in early Asian deals on Thursday as traders reacted to the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision.
As expected, the Bank of Japan kept its policy target interest rate on hold at 0.1% today, as relatively stable financial markets and strong recent economic signs gave the bank time to gauge the effects of its previous policy measures.
