Daily Currency Report

The dollar was little changed against the Japanese yen, holding onto most of the gains made following last week's healthy US labour report.

GBP

Despite softer manufacturing data, the British pound has strengthened against the US dollar, euro and Japanese yen. Industrial production increased by a less than expected 0.1 per cent in the month of January while manufacturing production dropped by 0.2 per cent. On balance, the sterling has held steady during the last week following a heavy sell-off in the previous seven days.

USD

With concerns growing over the state of the world's largest economy, employment data provided a timely boost to the greenback. The 97,000 increase in the US payrolls in February was close to market forecasts and an upward revision to previous month's data quelled some concerns of a near-term rate cut. The news pushed the dollar away from the three-month low that it hit against the yen a week ago.

EUR

The single currency ended the week slightly down against the other major currencies as investors digested the central bank's decision to raise interest rates for the seventh time since 2005 to 3.75 per cent.

JPY

The stability in the equity markets should have central bankers from around the world, including the BOJ, breathing a sigh of relief. If the stock markets continue to rebound, traders may be comfortable enough to return their focus to the BoJ's rate tightening cycle.