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The dollar held steady versus a basket of currencies on Friday, as investors shifted their focus to US jobs data, with President Donald Trump’s nomination of Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to be the next Fed chair coming as no surprise.
Trump on Thursday tapped Powell to lead the US central bank, breaking with precedent by denying incumbent Janet Yellen a second term but signalling a continuation of her cautious monetary policies.
Trump’s decision was in line with what market participants had been expecting, and the dollar showed limited reaction after the news.
The dollar index last stood at 94.684, having pulled up from a one-week low of 94.411 set on Thursday.
The greenback had slipped on Thursday after Republicans in the US House of Representatives released proposals to overhaul the tax code.
Republicans called for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 per cent from 35 per cent, cutting tax rates on companies’ foreign profits and on individuals and families.
Congressional passage of the legislation, however, was far from certain.
Later on Friday, the dollar could take its cues from US economic data, including jobs data for October and the Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of services sector activity.
Against the yen, the dollar eased 0.1 per cent to 114.00 yen, trading below a 3-1/2 month high of 114.45 yen that had been set last Friday.
The euro held steady at $1.1659.
Sterling nursed its losses. Sterling inched up 0.1 per cent to $1.3070, after having tumbled 1.4 per cent on Thursday.
The Australian dollar slipped 0.4 per cent to $0.7687, coming under pressure after data showed that retail sales were flat in September. That was below market expectations for a rise of 0.4 per cent on the month.