Dollar licks wounds after jobs shock, Aussie dips as inflation cools

The dollar nursed its sharpest drop in a month and a half on Wednesday, as investors bet that softer-than-expected U.S. jobs data reduced the chances of further Federal Reserve rate hikes. The Japanese yen hovered around 146 per dollar following its overnight rebound from a 10-month trough at 147.375, as a drop in Treasury yields took away support for the U.S. currency.

The Australian dollar dropped from near a two-week peak after inflation there cooled by more than economists predicted in July. China’s yuan was buoyed above a 10-month low in offshore trading after the country’s central bank again set a much stronger than anticipated official mid-point.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin eased back slightly after surging more than $2,000 in the previous session to hit a nearly two-week top at $28,142, following a court ruling that could pave the way for a first-of-its-kind spot bitcoin exchange traded fund. The U.S. dollar index - which measures the currency against six developed-market peers including the yen and euro - was little changed at 103.57 after pulling back from as high as 104.36 overnight after a sharp drop in the U.S. JOLTS job openings data to a 2-1/2 year low in July.

“With traders now sensitive to weaker U.S. data in hopes of the Fed’s peak rate, I’d expect USD bears to pounce on the back of any data which backs up the JOLTS jobs report,” said Matt Simpson, a market analysts at City Index.

“Whilst this brings excitement that yields and the U.S. dollar have topped, we’d warrant some caution given it was in response to second-tier employment data, and there is plenty of more data to come out this week,” culminating in Friday’s monthly non-farm payrolls report, Simpson added.

The two-year Treasury yield, which is most sensitive to expectations for monetary policy, slumped as much as 18 basis points (bps) to 4.871 per cent before recovering to around 4.9 per cent in Asian trading hours.

The 10-year yield held near Tuesday’s low of 4.106 per cent, a level last seen on Aug. 11, hovering at around 4.13 per cent. The dollar bought 146.14 yen, recovering 0.2 per cent from Tuesday. The euro edged down 0.1 per cent to $1.08675 after rallying 0.56 per cent overnight.