USD Firms in early Asian Trading

The greenback edged higher at the start of the Asian session, rallying sharply against the Aussie initially and pushing the sterling beneath the key 1.40-level. With US equity bourses still mired near its lowest levels in 12-years, risk aversion will continue to benefit the dollar – which has pushed the euro beneath the 1.25-handle.

US economic reports slated for release later today include the February ADP private sector payrolls, which are seen posting a loss of 615k jobs, deteriorating further from the loss of 522k jobs in January and non-manufacturing ISM. Consensus estimates for February non-manufacturing ISM call for a decline to 41.0 from 42.9, remaining mired beneath the key 50-level for its 5th consecutive month.

Traders will closely scrutinize Friday’s key labor report given the weakness in the US jobs market. The unemployment rate in February is expected to spike to 7.9%, a level not seen since 1984 and up sharply from 7.6% from January. The non-farm payrolls figure is estimated to reveal a loss of 600k jobs – its worse level since 1974.