By Alex Ho
The japanese yen is rising on Thursday morning, due to low export figures and fears about the mysterious virus in China.
The pair EUR/USD fell 0.01% to 1,1090, traders are awaiting the policy meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) expected later in the day. The meeting will be followed by a press conference with the president, Christine Lagarde.
The pair USD/JPY has lost 0.2% to 109,58 because of persistent fears about the enlargement of the outbreak of coronavirus, while the authorities have intensified their efforts to contain the virus before the holidays of a week of lunar New Year next week.
The World Health Organization will decide later on Thursday to declare a global health emergency.
On the front of the data, japanese exports have declined from 6.3% in December compared to the previous year, according to data from the ministry of Finance of the country. This figure was well below the expected fall of 4.2%.
The australian dollar rose 0.4% to 0,6873 after a surprise drop in the unemployment rate.
During this time, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was trading for the last time in 97,285, down 0.01%.
The index rose yesterday, after the National Association of Realtors said that sales of homes pending rose by 3.6% to reach an annual rate of 5.54 million. It is the pace of growth is the highest since February 2018.
