NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The dollar recovered from record lows Thursday in spite of soft economic data as traders took profits ahead of the weekend's G20 meeting.
Early Thursday, the euro bought a record $1.3074, then trimmed those gains to trade at $1.2963 as traders were reluctant to take positions ahead of the G20 meeting. The euro bought $1.3035 late Wednesday.
The dollar had reversed its losses against the yen and was trading at ¥104.23, up from 103.98 late Wednesday.
Although analysts expect little action from a meeting of Group of 20 finance officials which will start in Berlin Friday, particularly after U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Wednesday that market intervention was "non-rewarding at best," most are waiting for the weekend to pass before selling the greenback.
"The dollar is recovering because of position-adjustment," Manfred Wolf, director of foreign exchange at HVB Group in New York, told Reuters.
Not even a dip in the leading indicators index or a slowing of growth at Mid-Atlantic region factories could sink the dollar any further.
"The problem is people are very, very long euro, and even with bad news for the dollar like the Philly Fed, the euro doesn't rally. We're seeing people take some profits off the table," John Hazelton, director of foreign exchange, PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, told Reuters.
On Friday, the market will also be watching for any comment from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet. They are scheduled to take part in a panel discussion in Frankfurt.
Japanese officials stepped up their rhetoric against the rising yen, fueling some wariness in the market about the possibility that Japan might still step into the market around the yen's four-year high of 103.40 yen per dollar, hit in March.
A key guide of market expectations for a Chinese revaluation of its dollar peg, the discount for one-year forwards on the dollar/Chinese yuan rate, hit its widest level since late February as speculation that China will revalue heated up.
Meanwhile, Treasury prices were little changed after posting solid gains in the previous session.
The benchmark 10-year note inched up 2/32 to 101-2/32 to yield 4.12 percent, down from 4.13 percent late Wednesday, and the 30-year bond added 8/16 of a point to 108-9/32 to yield 4.81 percent, down from late Wednesday's 4.83 percent.
The two-year note shed 2/32 to 99-11/32 to yield 2.85 percent and the five-year note also fell 2/32 of a point to 100-3/32 to yield 3.48 percent.
--from staff and wire reports
|
.
