Major currencies steadied in Asian Market opening trades today as markets considered the impact of a politically turbulent week that saw the collapse of France\'s government and the brief imposition of martial law in South Korea. On the broader economic front, the spotlight will be on the U.S. non-farm payrolls report for November due later in the day as investors look to second guess the pace of future Federal Reserve rate cuts. So long as the unemployment rate doesn\'t fall back to 4.0%, markets should be comfortable about leaning towards a rate cut this month. In major currencies today, the USD was down 0.09% versus the Yen at 149.95. The euro was down 0.05% against the USD at $1.0582 after bouncing yesterday as French bonds stabilized, pulling further away from a two-year low of $1.03315 hit at the end of November as traders braced for a drawn-out reckoning for France. Elsewhere, sterling traded at $1.2744, down 0.04% so far on the day. Ahead of the data today, the dollar index, , rose 0.05% to 105.77 after slipping towards a three-week low in the previous session. The Indian rupee opened stronger with a gap of almost 08 paise at 84.65/66 against its previous session’s close of 84.73/74 and is expected to trade between 84.60 - 84.75 band today.
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