On Friday, the evergreen buck dropped in Asia in sideways trade with a manufacturing PMI from Caixin noted. However, trade was quiet even with China markets reopened after a week-long break.
The US dollar index, measuring the US dollar’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six key currencies, edged up 0.05%, hitting 99.88. Additionally, USD/JPY hit 113.06, rallying 0.23%, while AUD/USD dived 0.04%, showing 0.7653.
In January, the China Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index slowed from December, thus missing a Reuters survey forecast, though continued to demonstrate that the mainland’s economy was reviving. The reading came in at 51.0 in January, tumbling from December’s 47-month record of 51.9 and also below a Reuters survey forecast for 51.8. By the way, a reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below stands for contraction.
On Tuesday, the official manufacturing PMI hit 51.3 for January, declining a little from 51.4 in December, though still better than a Reuters survey forecast of 51.2.
