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IMM currency

futures mixed

CHICAGO: IMM currency futures ended a quiet day mixed, with the market thinning out ahead of the partial holiday on Friday.

IMM currency trade will open as usual at 0720 CST/1320 GMT, but will close four hours early at 1000 CST/1600 GMT.

Most of the focus in on US March jobs data, which will be released Friday morning. Economists on average forecasts March nonfarm payrolls to show a rise of 60,000 jobs after an increase of 705,000 in February.

June yen futures retained the weaker tone seen early in the session.

In the US trade was seen extending the tone overseas, with yen weakening after the Bank of Japan provided what was viewed as a generous amount of liquidity in money market operations on Thursday.

The move reduced speculation that the Japanese central bank was ready to tighten credit right away.

But traders said the market still expected Japanese short-term rates to rise in coming months.

Activity in cash dollar/yen was concentrated in the 107.10 to 106.85 yen area, which was little changed from the levels held in Europe, one IMM trader said.

June sterling futures rose on the day.

"It boils down to cable, which was the one thing that moved a little bit today," one IMM trader said.

But Ken Boyer, an analyst at MMS International, said that June sterling was unlikely to have much room to rise beyond $1.5300.

"Essentially I don't think it's going much above 1.53," Boyer said. That level was a 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement from the downmove seen in late March. In addition, $1.5306 was the March 22 low and will likely offer resistance.

But selling pressure may be muted by the long weekend. Volume was slight, with marks trading only about 8,200 contracts, one IMM trader said.

Prices at settlement - June yen down $0.000018 at $0.009435, marks up $0.0003 at $0.6783, Swiss francs up $0.0015 at $0.8441, British pounds up $0.0048 at $1.5294, Canadian dollars down $0.0003 at $0.7370, Australian dollars up $0.0017 at $0.7793 and Mexican peso futures up $0.000250 at $0.124700.