Dollar struggles near 2-week lows; stocks steady

Tuesday, 31 May 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The dollar hovered near a two-week low against a basket of currencies on Monday and Asian stocks were pinned in tight trading ranges as weak U.S. economic data and fears of a Greek debt default kept many investors on the sidelines.

European stocks were also set to dip, tracking weakness in Asia, but trading was expected to be thin with holidays in the United States and the UK.

European Union and IMF officials are likely to deliver their verdict this week on Greece’s faltering drive to bring its budget deficit under control. Compounding euro zone debt woes, a government minister in Ireland said it may have to ask for another loan from the EU and IMF because it will struggle to return to debt markets to raise funds next year.

The euro fell to $1.4263 , having pulled back from resistance near $1.4327, its 55-day moving average.

The single currency, which has bounced off of a two-month low of $1.3968 hit a week ago on trading platform EBS, also faces resistance near $1.4369, the top of the cloud on the daily Ichimoku chart, a technical analysis tool popular among traders.

Against a basket of currencies , the dollar was trading near the 75 line, just shy of a two-week trough hit in the previous session.

A batch of weak data has also raised questions on whether the U.S. economic recovery is faltering, raising expectations that authorities may keep interest rates at zero well into 2012, undermining the dollar’s appeal. Traders are also awaiting global manufacturing data on Wednesday for any signs of a slowdown in the world economy.

While Asian stocks have floundered in recent months, the appeal of fixed income assets has grown as regional central banks look set to keep raising interest rates to tackle inflation.

Year-to-date volumes of $47.4 billion in bonds sold in dollars, euros and yen from Asia ex-Japan, ex-Australia is already more than half of $83.6 billion transacted in all of 2010. Morgan Stanley projected that at the current pace the annual tally could end up in excess of $100 billion.

London-listed Indian mining company Vedanta Resources last week priced $1.65 billion worth of five- and 10-year bonds, which marked the largest high-yield bond out of Asia.[ID:nL3E7GU050]

That bullishness hasn’t been restricted to such bonds only.

Local currency debt have also emerged as a favorite for after January’s selloff with net foreign ownership in Indonesian rupiah bonds rising to a record.

Measured in dollar-adjusted terms, total returns for HSBC

Asia’s U.S. dollar bond index is three percent on a year-to-date basis, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Its local currency bond index counterpart has delivered 2.5 percent while MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is up about 1.5 percent.

SOUTHEAST ASIA BENEFITS

While credits had yet another roaring month, equity indices across the region were mostly down in May, led by Chinese shares which are set to post a 7 percent drop.

For the day, Japan’s Nikkei and Australia ended down 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, while the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan bounced slightly after falling for five consecutive weeks.