The dollar softened in Asian Market opening trades today, with the euro and the yen on the rise as investors remained on tenterhooks ahead of next week\'s central bank bonanza where the focus is on the Federal Reserve and the size of its expected interest rate cut. While the Fed is all but certain to cut rates next week, uncertainty around whether it will go with a 25-basis point cut or 50 basis points has kept investors on the edge and weighed on the dollar. The European Central Bank yesterday lowered rates but ECB president Christine Lagarde dampened expectations for another cut next month, sending the euro higher, with the single currency holding onto those gains in early trading today. The yen was 0.3% higher at 141.38 per dollar in early trading, hovering close to the eight and half month high of 140.71 it touched on Wednesday ahead of the BOJ meeting. Sterling was 0.1% higher at $1.31415 ahead of the BoE meeting next week, where futures markets imply around an 80% chance that interest rates remain on hold, after a 25-basis point rate cut in August. The Indian rupee opened stronger with a gap of about 06 paise at 83.91/92, against its previous session’s close of 83.97/98 and is expected to trade between 83.90 – 83.95 band today.
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