USD Starts to Play, Investors Are Not Happy to Sit!

<p>&nbsp;The American dollar began to display volatile movements ahead of the publication of the FOMC meeting minutes report early this morning (at 2.00am Malaysia time).</p><p><br /></p><p>The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of major currencies, was trading at around 103.06.</p><p><br /></p><p>The giant currency initially tried to rise, but was limited by investor caution awaiting the FOMC minutes.</p><p><br /></p><p>The minutes are expected to give investors more insight into the debate over the future direction of Federal Reserve (Fed) policy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, the euro traded steady following the release of the final reading of the European Zone PMI which did not show much change from the previous estimate.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The pound currency was little changed amid the absence of a major catalyst from the UK, seeing it remain hovering around 1.2700 against the greenback.</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, the yen rose slightly but remained trading at record lows against the US dollar as the market paid attention to the potential risk of intervention by Japanese authorities against the yen's current value.</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile in Asia, the Aussie dollar failed to sustain the strengthening after being hit by dismal Chinese services data in June.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the New Zealand dollar remains trading higher even though prices have stopped making gains.</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition, the Canadian dollar slipped lower against the greenback as investors awaited OPEC's meeting on their monthly oil production agreement.</p>