U.S. dollar little changed ahead of Non-Farm Payrolls data

The U.S. dollar was little changed on Friday in Asia as traders remained cautious ahead of the U.S. non-farm payrolls data due later in the day.

The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was up 0.04% to 96.373 by 1:51 AM ET (05:51 GMT). Trading volumes were light as U.S. financial markets were closed for a public holiday.

Non-farm payrolls are expected to have risen by 160,000 in June, compared with 75,000 in May.

Analysts said positive payroll data is unlikely to buoy the dollar as expectations for U.S. rate cuts are strong, given low inflation.

“When U.S. yields are this low, you can’t expect people to pile in and buy the dollar,” said Junichi Ishikawa, senior foreign exchange strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.

“Sentiment is tilted toward testing the dollar’s downside. There are expectations for lower rates in Europe and Britain, so it may be easier for the dollar to move versus the yen.”

On the Sino-U.S. trade front, U.S. and Chinese officials are “on the phone,” U.S. chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “They will be on the phone this coming week. And they will be scheduling face-to-face meetings. Lots of communications.”

The two sides agreed to resume negotiations and hold off imposing additional tariffs on each other’s goods over the weekend.

The AUD/USD pair inched up 0.1% to $0.7021 after climbing to a two-month high of $0.7048 the previous day.

The Aussie dollar has advanced about 1.4% against its U.S. counterpart this week.

The USD/JPY pair also inched up 0.1% to 107.88.

The USD/CNY pair was little changed at 6.8744.