The greenback continues its rally.
Asian and European trading sessions:
Euro: On Thursday the euro strengthened temporarily, and the EUR/USD reached its maximum at the $1,3322 level. Minimums were reached at the level of $1.3190.
The euro was pressured after the released information, that Fitch reduced the credit rating of Ireland. The euro could not be supported by the released German consumer price data, which turned out to be at the forecasted levels.
US Dollar: The greenback continued its previous rally on Thursday as well.
British Pound: According to the expectations, the Bank of England left the principal rate unchanged at the level of 0.50%. The program of the quantitative easing was left at the previous level as well. As a result, the sterling stayed under pressure against its counterparts. The Halifax house prices data, which was released today as well, did not support the sterling.
The GBP/USD pair traded in the range of $1,5730-$1,5840.
Japanese Yen: The USD/JPY pair set minimums at the level of Y83.60 and maximums – at Y84.10. Previously released Japanese GDP turned out to be above expectations, which supported the yen.
Australian Dollar: Australian dollar demonstrated growth against the major currencies after the release of the employment data. In particular, the Employment change for November increased for 54.6K against the expected growth for 20.0K. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% from the 5.4% last month. At the same time there was no information supporting the possibility that the principal rate would be increased at the next RBA meeting. After that, the national currency stepped back from the previously reached maximums.
Oil: Oil prices increased and reached the $89.05 mark.
American trading session:
US dollar: According to the expectations, positive US fundamentals were released during the American trading session. Initial jobless claims dropped to 421K, compared to the forecasted decrease of 425K.