950804

IMM currencies regain

some of losses

CHICAGO: IMM currency futures closed up on Thursday, regaining some of Wednesday losses. However, trade was light as the market appeared to be waiting for the release of US payroll and employment indicators.

Traders estimated volumes for the September yen, mark and Swiss franc to be 12,000, 14,000 and 12,000, respectively.

"It's been really flat," one trader said. "The dollar seems to be resisting the retracement of its gain yesterday. People seem reluctant to sell the dollar, but then again they're not lining up to buy it either."

Stocks and bonds weakened in the morning with the release of better-than-expected US weekly jobless claims, which put pressure on the dollar.

Traders noted that 11,000 of the evening's 14,000 EFPs (Exchange-For-Physicals) in September marks were done by a French firm for a fund.

The yen dipped below yesterday's low during GLOBEX trade, but stayed above that level during pit trade to finish up. If it breaks the $0.011145 level tomorrow, the upside target is $0.011190, a trader said. "After that it will test the downside at $0.011068 before bottoming out," he added.

"All in all, people are looking for tomorrow's numbers," another trader said.

US payrolls are expected to drop to 111,000 in July, from 215,000 in June. The July unemployment rate is expected to hit 5.7 percent, up from 5.6 percent in June.

At settlement, September yen futures were up $0.000044 at $0.011112, the nearby mark was up $0.0027 at $0.7197, Swiss francs were up $0.0048 at $0.8722, sterling rose $0.0048 to $1.6034 and the Canadian dollar fell $0.0010 at $0.7352.-Reuter