NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar hit a three-month high against the yen on Wednesday, but fell against the euro posted its best quarterly performance in a year, because the idea that the U.S. economy continues to recover.
With the U.S. economy in better shape than that of the countries of the periphery of the eurozone and Japan, the dollar maintained its gains or at least would aim to rise in coming months.
The dollar rose to 93.63 yen in night operations, its highest level since early January, after investors sold the yen at the start of a new Japanese fiscal year.
The euro also rose against the yen, rising to 126.55 points, its highest level since early February.
For the first quarter, the index measuring the performance of the dollar against a basket of six currencies benchmark, rose 4.0 percent, its best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2009.
The euro, meanwhile, lost 5.6 percent against the dollar in the quarter, while the pound fell 6.0 percent.
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates from their current minimum before the central banks of Japan and Europe have also supported the dollar.
However, were volatile trading on Wednesday after a report from ADP showed a surprise drop in private sector jobs in the United States in March, sparking fears about the pace of economic recovery.
But after briefly falling below 93 yen, the dollar rebounded and analysts expect the report of the Government's non-farm payrolls, due on Friday, showing that the economy created 190,000 jobs jobs in March, but aided by the temporary appointment of the Government towards the 2010 Census.
ADP Employer Services said U.S. private sector lost 23,000 jobs in March, contrary to forecasts of analysts polled by Reuters, who expected the creation of 40,000 jobs.
"The negative figure was a bit shocking. People were focused on private contracting, as this should eliminate the noise of temporary contracts related to the census," said Brian Kim, currency strategist at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut.
The dollar closed its operations in New York with a 0.7 percent to 93.48 yen, near its session high, after falling to 92.76 yen after the ADP report.
The euro rose 0.7 percent to $ 1.3510, boosted in part by end-quarter demand, but traders said the gains in the future would be slight because the markets remain worried about the financial crisis in Greece .
The yield spread between the notes of Greece and Germany widened on Wednesday when Moody's downgraded the rating of five Greek banks.
(Reporting by Nick Olivari and Steven C. Johnson)
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With the U.S. economy in better shape than that of the countries of the periphery of the eurozone and Japan, the dollar maintained its gains or at least would aim to rise in coming months.
The dollar rose to 93.63 yen in night operations, its highest level since early January, after investors sold the yen at the start of a new Japanese fiscal year.
The euro also rose against the yen, rising to 126.55 points, its highest level since early February.
For the first quarter, the index measuring the performance of the dollar against a basket of six currencies benchmark, rose 4.0 percent, its best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2009.
The euro, meanwhile, lost 5.6 percent against the dollar in the quarter, while the pound fell 6.0 percent.
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates from their current minimum before the central banks of Japan and Europe have also supported the dollar.
However, were volatile trading on Wednesday after a report from ADP showed a surprise drop in private sector jobs in the United States in March, sparking fears about the pace of economic recovery.
But after briefly falling below 93 yen, the dollar rebounded and analysts expect the report of the Government's non-farm payrolls, due on Friday, showing that the economy created 190,000 jobs jobs in March, but aided by the temporary appointment of the Government towards the 2010 Census.
ADP Employer Services said U.S. private sector lost 23,000 jobs in March, contrary to forecasts of analysts polled by Reuters, who expected the creation of 40,000 jobs.
"The negative figure was a bit shocking. People were focused on private contracting, as this should eliminate the noise of temporary contracts related to the census," said Brian Kim, currency strategist at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut.
The dollar closed its operations in New York with a 0.7 percent to 93.48 yen, near its session high, after falling to 92.76 yen after the ADP report.
The euro rose 0.7 percent to $ 1.3510, boosted in part by end-quarter demand, but traders said the gains in the future would be slight because the markets remain worried about the financial crisis in Greece .
The yield spread between the notes of Greece and Germany widened on Wednesday when Moody's downgraded the rating of five Greek banks.
(Reporting by Nick Olivari and Steven C. Johnson)
