Dollar under pressure after FOMC minutes; oil jumps after EIA data

The dollar hit a fresh seventeen-month low against the yen on Thursday as it extended its weakness following the FOMC minutes that were released late on Wednesday.

USDJPY dropped to 109.10 yen, the lowest since October 2014. EURJPY fell 0.6 percent to about 124.42 yen.

EURUSD held steady at $1.1398, not far from a 5-1/2-month high of $1.1438 touched last week.

The dollar remains under pressure after the minutes to the Federal Reserve’s March meeting suggested that there was disagreement among policymakers about the timing of rate hikes and that there was no urgency to lift rates soon. An April rate hike seems out of the question and markets now perceive that the Fed will not move until its June meeting at the earliest. The minutes revealed that officials advocating caution outnumbered those seeking action this month.

In commodities, oil was in focus as prices jumped overnight, when an EIA report showed an unexpected decline last week in US crude inventories. It was the first fall in stockpiles in two months.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, was 0.9 per cent higher at $40.18 a barrel on Thursday, while West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, was up 1.1 per cent at $38.16.

Also helping boost oil prices were comments this week from Kuwait’s OPEC official that major producers were likely to reach an agreement at a meeting scheduled for April 17 to freeze output, even without the participation of Iran.

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