Dubai : The dollar finished marginally lower against key counterparts through an uneventful week of trade, and markets now look to the coming week's critical economic data to determine broader direction for the US currency. A nearly empty economic calendar gave little reason to force major US dollar moves through the past week's trade and illiquid market conditions fuelled unexpectedly sharp intraday moves in the dollar.

Exceptions included Thursday's positive initial jobless claims result and the prior day's impressive Chicago PMI data. Given a fairly steady string of positive economic results, markets may punish the resurgent US dollar if any of the coming week's key releases disappoint. The infamous US nonfarm payrolls report headlines a busy week of economic event risk and sets the stage for strong US dollar volatility in the days ahead.

Euro

The euro tumbled towards the end of the week following a report from the European Central Bank showing that consumer and business loans in the region posted their third straight fall in November.

Looking ahead to this week, it will be difficult to shake the spectre of a stalled economy and mired credit market; but fine tuning interest rate expectations is certainly possible.

Range for previous week: $1.4271-$1.4458 (Dh5.2417- Dh5.3104). Range for this week: $1.4200-$1.4500 (Dh5.2157-Dh5.3259)

Sterling

Sterling ended the week modestly higher against the US dollar on a sharp reversal in late-week trade.

Relatively illiquid conditions were to blame for the speed at which the pound rallied. It was a quiet week due to the holiday season. This week should be more eventful as far as data is concerned with a host of releases due out. PMI Manufacturing, Construction, and Services survey data may set the tone for the Bank of England rate announcement.

Range for previous week: $1.5850-$1.6250 (Dh5.8217- Dh5.9686). Range for this week: $1.5850-$1.6235 (Dh5.8217-Dh5.9631)

Yen

The Japanese yen ended the year close to a nine-week low against the dollar after data showed initial applications for US jobless benefits fell to their lowest level since mid 2008.

Markets were closed for a good part of the week due to the holiday season and the yen traded lower in thin trade on Thursday. The currency has recently come under pressure due to worries about Japan's sovereign debt rating and the widening of US/Japan bond yield gap.

On January 8, November preliminary leading indicators will be released expected at 2.2 per cent compared to 2.5 per cent last month.

Range for previous week: 89.50 yen-92.00 yen (Dh0.03998-Dh0.04071). Range for this week: 91.50 yen-93.14 yen (Dh0.03943-Dh0.04014)

— HSBC Global Markets Middle East