The USD briefly extended Friday’s gains in Asian trading against some currencies, successfully sending EUR/USD to 1.3928 and Kiwi to lows of 0.6240 and USD/CAD to 1.1206. GBP/USD, weighed down by ongoing political woes in the wake of the rejection of the Labour party in the weekend’s European elections, extended losses to 1.5927. AUD/USD managed to hold above Friday’s lows of 0.7920 with USD/JPY unable to break above late Friday highs of 98.89, stalling at 98.86. However, EUR/USD attempts to bounce above 1.4000 stalled at 1.4001 while USD/JPY gains were capped by exporter sales. U.S. yields continued to rise in the wake of last week’s data, and this helped underpin the USD and limit any USD correction with yields rising to the highest levels since November 2008. The higher yields could prompt good demand for this week’s $65 bln U.S. treasury auction. Asian stock markets were mixed with profit-taking in Taiwan and Hong Kong but with the weaker JPY bolstering Japanese exporters and supporting the Nikkei. NYMEX crude and gold eased slightly in reaction to the firm dollar tone.
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