On Thursday, the evergreen buck stands still above a recent six-week minimum, while the British pound traded in a tight range with hopes running high that the Bank of England will raise its interest rates for the first time since 2009 in an attempt to ward off recession.
The dollar index, usually gauging the US dollar’s strength against a basket of six key counterparts traded flat at 95.565, holding above a near six-week minimum of 95.003 achieved earlier this week.
The greenback soared 0.1% against the Japanese yen to 101.31. Meanwhile the common currency held steady at $1.1144.
The near-term focus for the major US currency is whether American jobs data due on Friday will revive hopes for the Fed in order to raise interest rates later in 2016.
American interest rate futures suggest that market participants are currently having a 40% chance of a Fed rate lift by December.
Financial experts say that a better-than-expected American nonfarm payrolls report would ensure the dollar traction against Japan’s resurgent currency.
