U.S. Dollar Higher As Fed Minutes Indicate More Rate Hikes

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar was higher against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed that the central bank is prepared to continue raising interest rates in the coming months, but indicated a slowdown in the pace of hikes "at some point."

The minutes from the Fed's July meeting showed that rates would remain higher for longer in order to tame inflation.

Fed officials observed that inflation remained unacceptably high and there was little evidence that it would recede yet.

Participants believed that it would be necessary to move to a "restrictive stance of policy" due to inflation remaining well above the Fed's objective.

Asian stock markets are mostly lower, tracking a sell-off on Wall Street overnight, even as the Fed minutes signalled a less aggressive rate-hike stance amid risks to the outlook.

The greenback edged up to 135.43 against the yen and 0.9541 against the franc, up from its early lows of 134.74 and 0.9498, respectively. The greenback is seen finding resistance around 136.5 against the yen and 0.98 against the franc.

The greenback touched 1.1994 against the pound, its highest level since July 26. The currency is likely to challenge resistance around the 1.18 level.

Against the euro, the greenback was up at 1.0146. On the upside, 0.99 is likely seen as its next resistance level.

The greenback firmed to 10-day highs of 1.2947 against the loonie, 0.6899 against the aussie and 0.6247 against the kiwi, rebounding from its previous lows of 1.2908, 0.6951 and 0.6287, respectively. The next possible resistance for the greenback is seen around 1.32 against the loonie, 0.66 against the aussie and 0.60 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, Eurozone final inflation data for July will be published in the European session.

U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended August 13, Canada industrial product and raw materials price indexes, as well as U.S. existing home sales and leading index, all for July, are due out in the New York session.