The dollar paused for breath in Asian Market opening trades today, as traders looked to testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for guidance, after a surprise shift in the central bank\'s policy outlook. The greenback has gained sharply since the Fed last week flagged sooner-than-expected interest rate hikes but dipped yesterday to hand back a little bit of that rise. We have had a meaningful shift (at the Fed) from a longtime dovish stance to now a slightly hawkish one. In the medium term, investors will be keenly focused on the U.S. labor market as its performance is likely to have an influence on the Fed\'s attitude. In the nearer future, all eyes are on Powell who appears before Congress. We have had a bit of a positioning cleanout - the whole world was mega short the U.S. dollar, and that is in good part probably been cleaned out already - and now we take a wee breath before the next move up. In currencies today, the yen fell 0.2% to 110.44 per dollar. The euro was at $1.1911 while the pound was trading higher at $1.3913. The offshore yuan traded at 6.4685 per dollar. The Indian Rupee opened weaker with a gap of 07 paise at 74.17/18 against its previous session’s close of 74.10/11 and is expected to trade in a range between 73.90 – 74.30 today.
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