Today's Market Update

Asia Session
Published: February 4, 2009 1:20 AM

The US Dollar made some modest gains in Asia against the Euro, Yen, as well as the commodity currencies down under in a quiet trading session ahead of some important data later in the week. The Greenback came off NY lows near 1.3050 and the EUR/USD pair hit 1.2954 as a low before a slight rebound heading into London. The ECB will meet on Thursday for a rate decision meeting in which no rate change is expected, but all eyes will be focused on the comments by ECB President Trichet following the ''non-decision''. Trichet has hinted that the rate cutting cycle may resume in March. Many feel that this pause in cutting could prove to be detrimental the Euro Zone as it lags behind the rest of the global economy as far as lowering rates aggressively.

USD/JPY grinded higher in a tedious fashion, but nonetheless gained ground from near 89.31 to highs just over 89.60. The Dollar was boosted by surprisingly better than expected housing data, and although many are looking with a weary eye toward US employment data at the end of the week. Down under, AUD/USD hit a low of 64.57 before bouncing back to .6500, and NZD/USD bottomed out at 0.5079 before getting back to just over 0.5125.

Be aware of Euro Zone Retail Sales later at 10:00GMT.