FOREX-Dollar steadies after week of falls

* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E

By Iain Withers
LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - The dollar recovered slightly on
Friday but was still heading for its softest week of the year
after surprisingly weak U.S. jobs figures the previous day and
ongoing loose Federal Reserve policy prompted investors to trim
their bets.
The greenback is on track for a nearly 1% weekly fall
against a basket of major currencies, although it edged up a
quarter of a percent on the day. =USD
The euro and yen are poised for their largest weekly
percentage gains of the year, around 1% up each.
"In short, the energy has gone out of the dollar's
first-quarter rebound, just as it has gone out of the bond
sell-off," said Kit Juckes, head of FX strategy at Societe
Generale.
The pause in the dollar's rally follows a solid rebound over
the first quarter after the greenback's softest year since 2017.
However, after a run of strong U.S. data, Thursday figures
showed U.S. unemployment claims unexpectedly rose. Fed chair Jerome Powell also signalled at an economic forum
on Thursday that the central bank plans to keep monetary policy
super-easy. The euro fell a quarter of a percent against the dollar on
the day after mixed economic data from Germany, showing a rise
in exports in February but a surprise fall in industrial output
in separate releases.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were among the
currencies to lose ground and were both down around 0.5% on the
day against the dollar.
Analysts at MUFG said in a note the moves had no clear macro
trigger, but a financial stability report from Australia's
central bank indicating it would refrain from monetary policy
action to tackle growing lending risk may have pressured the
Aussie. Sterling was also on track for its biggest weekly loss of
the year and was down around a fifth of a percent on the day.
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