USD Rebounds Before NFP!

<p>&nbsp;Opening the September market, the US dollar traded steady after ending last month's trade with a 1.7% gain.</p><p><br /></p><p>The start of the Asian session saw the dollar index little changed at around 103.60 against most major currencies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Earlier on Wednesday, the currency king fell sharply following disappointing US private sector ADP employment and gross domestic product (GDP) data.</p><p><br /></p><p>ADP led to today's (Friday) NFP report showing slower growth in August, while the second reading GDP grew 2.1% in the second quarter from the 2.4% initially estimated.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even so, the US dollar bounced back on Thursday as investors failed to react significantly to China's better-than-expected manufacturing and services PMI data.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the New York session, personal consumer expenditure (PCE) data, the main indicator of Federal Reserve (Fed) inflation showed an increase in the annual rate from 4.1% to 4.2% in July.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>US jobless claims were slightly lower than market expectations, which gave relief to investors ahead of tonight's NFP release.</p><p><br /></p><p>Markets expect the US to add 169,000 jobs in August, up from the previous 187,000, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5%.</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, movements in other currencies saw the Aussie, New Zealand and Canadian dollars move flat following gains recorded on Wednesday.</p><p><br /></p><p>The euro, on the other hand, lost all of its previous gains even after showing weaker-than-expected inflation figures, up 5.3% from 5.5%.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also witnessing a decline was the pound currency which traded at around 1.2667 against the greenback during today's Asian session.</p>