Today's Edition
SINGAPORE (REUTERS)
The dollar was steady and traders wary on Monday as intervention risks swirled around the yen, with the gilt market on edge ahead of a British budget in a holiday-interrupted week where a New Zealand policy meeting is also expected to deliver a rate cut.
A holiday in Tokyo lightened trade in the Asia day and left the yen on hold at 156.53 per dollar.
Japan's currency has been sliding on a combination of its low interest rates and looser fiscal policies, but it bounced from 10-month lows late last week when Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama ramped up verbal warnings of official yen buying.
Traders see intervention looming somewhere between 158 and 162 yen per dollar, with Thanksgiving-thinned trade later in the week a possible window for authorities to step in.
Elsewhere the euro was held in check at $1.1520, without much of a boost despite a resurgence in wagers on a US rate cut in December. That followed New York Fed President John Williams saying there is room to lower rates in the near term.
The dollar index was mostly steady at 100.15 and other majors were held fairly close to recent lows.
Sterling traded at $1.3097 ahead of Wednesday's budget announcement, where finance minister Rachel Reeves seeks to tread a path between spending to support faltering growth, while showing the market Britain can meet its fiscal targets.
The New Zealand dollar was clinging on at $0.5609, having slid nearly 8% since July on a souring economic outlook.
Markets are all but certain the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will cut rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but are on the fence about whether a further reduction will follow next year.
The Australian dollar was at $0.6460, with traders looking ahead to Wednesday's CPI reading, which will be the first full release of monthly price data. A Reuters poll showed weighted annual CPI is expected to be sticky at 3.6%.
Cryptocurrency markets steadied over the weekend, but pressure resumed on bitcoin in Asia day, pulling it down 1.5% to $86,700.
