The US dollar was still within narrow ranges against the euro and yen in afternoon trading here, ending a lackluster Asian session barely changed from its levels in the US overnight, with players unwilling to take new positions before the release later today of US non-farm payrolls data for last month, dealers said.
At 3.27 pm here, the dollar was at 114.96 yen, down from 115.17 yen in Tokyo nearly four hours earlier. The euro was at 1.2778 usd, up from 1.2770 usd in Tokyo.
Dealers said that although hawkish comments by European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet overnight kept the euro supported, anticipation of a dollar surge later today if the US non-farm payrolls beat market projections stopped the euro from extending its gains.
As expected, the ECB left the minimum refi rate unchanged at 2.75 pct, but market players quickly homed in on Trichet's use of the phrase "strong vigilance" of inflation developments, taking it to mean that an increase is certain next month, dealers said.
They said market attention soon drifted away from the ECB and zoomed in on the US payrolls data, which are usually closely watched, although they are known to be difficult to predict accurately.
The median estimate in the latest Market News International survey of economists is that US non-farm payrolls rose by 185,000 last month, more than originally expected