- Early stock weakness stoke safe haven demand for yen
- Norwegian crown rises after Norges Bank removes easing bias
- Kiwi jumps after RBNZ sees positive prospects for growth
- Banxico raises interest rates to 7 pct, boosts Mexican peso
(Updates market action, adds quote)
The dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies on Thursday as low U.S. bond yields offset in-line data on domestic jobless claims and home prices, keeping it close to the one-month peak it reached earlier this week.
The yen garnered some safe-haven demand on early weakness on Wall Street and European stock markets.
The Norwegian crown and the New Zealand dollar were the notable gainers in a quiet trading session after their countries' central banks showed confidence in their economic outlook.
Among emerging currencies, the Mexican peso MXN=D2 jumped 1 percent after policy-makers raised rates by a quarter point to 7 percent following the Fed's rate hike last week.
The dollar had strengthened as several Fed officials since last week have supported the notion of possibly another rate increase by year-end despite a recent softening of inflation. The bounce faded as doubts crept in as to whether the modest current economic expansion warrants further rate increases.
"The market has not bought into the Fed's hawkish rhetoric," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in New York. "The market is dubious about U.S. growth in the second half of the year."
The U.S. bond market has reflected traders' doubts as the yield curve on Wednesday flattened to levels not seen in nearly a decade.
"I don't see a lot of pressure for yields to go up," said Humberto Garcia, head of global asset allocation at Leumi Investment Services Inc in New York.
The yield curve stabilized on Thursday in reaction to reports showing a tightening labor market and home prices that appreciated in April more than what traders expected.
An index that tracks the dollar against six major currencies .DXY was flat at 97.571. It reached an one-month high of 97.871 on Tuesday.
The euro EUR= was 0.2 percent lower at $1.1149, while the dollar was fractionally weaker at 111.32 yen JPY= .
The yen was 0.2 percent firmer against the euro at 124.10 yen EURJPY= , with the pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX ending unchanged on the day.
The Dow .DJI and S&P 500 .SPX were modestly higher. Among other currencies, the Norwegian crown rose after Norway's central bank lifted its rate forecasts for 2017 and 2018 and said a rate cut was no longer likely.
It was 0.4 percent higher at 8.4956 crowns per dollar NOK= and up 0.6 percent at 9.4690 crowns per euro EURNOK=D4 .
The kiwi NZD=D4 rose 0.6 percent to $0.7266 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand rang several upbeat notes in its outlook for growth and impact of current exchange rates.
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 1449 EDT (1849 GMT):Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct YTD Pct Previous Change Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1149 $1.1166 -0.15 +6.05 Dollar/Yen JPY= 111.3100 111.3700 -0.05 -4.76 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 124.11 124.36 -0.20 +0.79 Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9720 0.9724 -0.04 -4.50 Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2672 1.2668 +0.03 +2.72 Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3238 1.3332 -0.71 -1.43 Australian/Doll AUD= 0.7541 0.7550 -0.12 +4.52 arEuro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0840 1.0858 -0.17 +1.15 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8798 0.8812 -0.16 +3.29 NZ NZD= 0.7268 0.7223 +0.62 +4.71 Dollar/DollarDollar/Norway NOK= 8.4959 8.5304 -0.40 -1.63 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.4708 9.5242 -0.56 +4.24 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.7541 8.7446 -0.04 -3.88 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 9.7619 9.7656 -0.04 +1.90 <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates in 2017 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> ((For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see:reuter//realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets
))
