Dollar recovers but still stays weak

The US dollar edged up but still stayed around low levels against major currencies Wednesday, after falling sharply in the previous session on growing expectation that the Federal Reserve may delay tapering bond- buying program based on weak job gains in September. The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against six major currencies, slightly rose to 79.26 but it still stayed near a two- year low versus the euro. Meanwhile, the dollar fell against Japanese yen and Swiss franc on smaller market risk appetite as money market rates jumped to the highest since July in China. In the previous trading day, dollar plunged across the board, after a report showed U.S. non-farm sector added less jobs than expected and speculation that the Federal Reserve may delay tapering bond-buying program rose again. Moreover, since the government shutdown had dampened consumer sentiment and posed a negative effect on the economy, the Fed would keep the quantitative easing measures intact until early next year. The Fed's next two policy meetings will be held on Oct. 29-30 and Dec. 17-18. On the economic front, U.S. import prices advanced 0.2 percent for the second consecutive month in September, while the price index for U.S. exports rose 0.3 percent in the same month, said the Labor Department Wednesday. Meanwhile, U.S. mortgage applications decreased 0.6 percent in the week ending Oct. 18 from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. In late New York trading, the euro dipped to 1.3780 dollars from 1.3783 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.6172 dollars from 1.6239 dollars. The Australian dollar slipped to 0.9619 dollar from 0.9707 dollar. The dollar bought 97.32 Japanese yen, lower than 98.12 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved down to 0.8920 Swiss franc from 0.8974 Swiss franc and it went up to 1.0392 Canadian dollars from 1.0287 Canadian dollars.