Jun 09, 2022 12:36AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
The dollar fell on Thursday morning in Asia. The main market theme remained the European Central Bank meeting and its monetary policy decisions in the later hours.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, was down 0.09 percent to 102.45 points by 12:29 p.m. EDT
The USD/JPY pair fell 0.12% to 134.09, with the yen recovering from a 20-year low on Thursday despite the Bank of Japan maintaining its stimulus policy.
The AUD/USD pair fell 0.13% to 0.7183 and the NZD/USD pair rose 0.08% to 0.6452.
The USD/CNY pair weakened by 0.10% to 6.6768, while the GBP/USD pair fell by 0.04% to 1.2535.
Government data released earlier in the day showed that China's exports rose 16.9% year-on-year in May as COVID-19 restrictions and disruptions in production and logistics eased, beating market expectations.
According to Investing.com's forecasts, growth was projected at 8.0%, compared to 3.9% in April.
The ECB will make a monetary policy decision later today and is expected to end its long-term asset purchase programme.
If ECB President Christine Lagarde "leans towards a tighter interest rate policy going forward, it will support the Eurodollar," Carol Kong, monetary strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, told Reuters.
The market has priced in a 50 basis point ECB rate hike given the euro's high zero inflation.
Investors are still worried about a recession caused by a rate hike. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine had worsened the outlook for the world economy and cut its growth forecasts, adding to the gloomy outlook for global growth.
In terms of data, the US consumer price index (CPI), China's CPI and the producer price index (PPI) are expected to be released on Friday.
In the cryptocurrency space, bitcoin hovered around the $30,000 mark.