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IMM currencies end mixed ahead of rollover

CHICAGO: IMM currency futures ended mixed, with outright trade quiet as moving of positions from March to June contracts before Monday's rollover was the bulk of the session's activity, traders said.

Tamer-than-expected February US jobs data Friday had little immediate impact on IMM currencies, but US stocks spiked higher in reaction to the numbers. The data assuaged concerns about aggressive Federal Reserve Bank credit tightening, and stocks' rally put some pressure on IMM contracts, traders said.

"Most people are still of the view as long as inflation is not a real major show, the Fed is going to be temperate in their tightening, asset markets will generally hang in there, and the dollar remains generally the place to be," said David Ethridge, director of currency analysis for Standard & Poor's MMS.

The US Labour Department said nonfarm payrolls grew 43,000, versus 206,000 forecast, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent versus 4.0 percent forecast, and average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent, as forecast.

March euros opened near unchanged and then slipped, breaching support near $0.96300, and $0.96060 to hit a $0.95960 session low. The contract then pared losses, remaining above further support at $0.95770.

One hedge fund rolled over about 3,000 positions in the euro, buying the March and selling the June, one IMM currency futures trader said. The fund did the same with about 2,000 sterling contracts, he said.

Dealings in the March yen were quiet for most of the session. The contract traded in a range for most of the day and briefly slipped below intraday support at $0.009277, Thursday's low, before recovering slightly.

The March Australian dollar ended slightly higher after a selloff earlier in the week, and Ethridge attributed the strength to profit-taking ahead of the weekend.

At settlement, March yen was $0.000015 lower at $0.009285, euros off $0.00490 at $0.96210, Swiss francs off $0.0034 at $0.5988, sterling up $0.0028 at $1.5798, Canadian dollars up $0.0015 at $0.6882, Australian dollars up $0.0014 at $0.6089 and Mexican pesos unchanged at $0.107000.-Reuters