The dollar has regained ground against the yen and maintained its strong gains against other majors.

Sterling

Sterling remained weak as it extended losses that had been triggered by the Bank of England's surprise expansion of its quantitative easing program. The pound is lower against most of its major rivals such as the euro, yen, US dollar and the Australian and New Zealand dollars. With focus now on the US interest rate decision, sterling may struggle to see support from better than expected retail sales.

US Dollar

The dollar rose again against a basket of currencies as investors continued to trade on the stronger-than-expected US jobs number signalling the economy is improving and will be the first of the G7 countries to emerge from the recession. The central bank is expected to hold their interest rate at the 0 to 0.25 per cent level, and some analysts say it may try to discourage speculation of a near-term rate rise after the payrolls data boosted expectations of possible monetary tightening.

Euro

The single currency still struggles against the dollar. However, French industrial production went up 0.3 per cent in June, which was better than the flat performance that had been expected. The data was received with cautious optimism in that output in June was supported by restocking and a bounce in car production, which is being helped by government backed incentive schemes.

Japanese Yen

The Japanese yen grew broadly stronger particularly against high yielders. This was after a lower than expected rise in Chinese industrial production which saw some profit taking on risk assets. Data showed core machinery orders rose in June, however the country's manufacturers are still downbeat about their future prospects.