"The dollar clearly rose on Yellen's remarks," said Mitsuo Imaizumi, chief currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo. "But with tomorrow's inauguration of Trump ahead, Japanese investors still might take a cautious stance today. They were unanimous in saying that the ECB's next move, after April's planned cut, would be to further taper its quantitative easing.Crude oil prices took back ground lost in the previous session when the dollar strengthened. A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.U.S. crude added 0.7 percent to $51.46 per barrel, after shedding 2.67 percent on Wednesday.

Source: The Star January 19, 2017 01:09 UTC