17.04.201423:28:32UTC+00U.S. Dollar Marches Toward Weekly Advance

The dollar marched toward weekly advances versus the euro and the yen as progressing economic data supported speculation the Federal Reserve will bring down stimulus this year.

The greenback rallied for a fifth day yesterday versus a basket of counterparts after data showed manufacturing in the Philadelphia region developed at the most rapid pace in seven months. Other figures showed the amount of Americans filing for unemployment insurance payments hovered near a seven-year low. An index of leading indicators next week is projected to soar.

“The jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed reports were both good, and the dollar was bid on the back of that,” said Kazuo Shirai, a trader at Union Bank NA in Los Angeles. “If U.S. jobs numbers stay positive, the Fed will probably continue to taper at the current pace.”

The dollar was slightly moved at $1.3812 per euro as of 8:17 a.m. in Tokyo from yesterday, on track for a 0.5 percent weekly surge. It purchased 102.44 yen from 102.39, set for a 0.8 percent increase since April 11. The euro exchanged with a slight alteration at 141.49 yen, up 0.3 percent this week.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which records the U.S. currency versus 10 major counterparts, was slightly altered at 1,010.63, after ending yesterday at 1,010.68, the topmost closing level since April 7.

Financial markets in the New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, U.S., U.K. and Germany are among those that will be closed for a holiday today.

The Philadelphia Fed’s factory index skyrocketed to 16.6 in April, the topmost performing level since September, data revealed yesterday. Initial unemployment claims bolstered by 2,000 to 304,000 in the week ended April 12 from a revised 302,000 the prior period that was the weakest since September 2007, a Labor Department report showed.

The index of U.S. leading indicators possibly climbed 0.7 percent in March, the most since November, based from the median projection of economists in a Bloomberg News survey before the data are released on April 21.