By Gina Lee

Investing.com – The dollar was up on Wednesday morning in Asia. Overnight surges gave the euro and pound a boost in early trading, alongside strong U.K. jobs data and a general improvement in investor sentiment thanks to positive U.S. retail sales data and hopes that China will ease COVID-19 lockdowns.

The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched up 0.07% to 103.25 by 1:22 AM ET (5:22 AM GMT).

The USD/JPY pair edged down 0.15% to 129.19.

The AUD/USD pair inched down 0.07% to 0.7024 while the NZD/USD pair inched up 0.06% to 0.6365.

The USD/CNY pair edged up 0.16% to 6.7488 while the GBP/USD pair inched down 0.03% to 1.2486.

"The pound got a boost from the very strong jobs report yesterday, and on top of that, there has been a slight improvement in the broader risk sentiment in financial markets driven by some positive news out of China on the lockdowns and strong data out of the U.S.," Commonwealth Bank Of Australia currency strategist Carol Kong told Reuters.

The Chinese city of Shanghai on Tuesday hit a long-awaited milestone of three consecutive days with no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine zones, with authorities setting out the city’s clearest timetable to date for exiting a lockdown the day before.

Reflecting the improved risk sentiment, equities jumped overnight, and U.S. benchmark Treasury yields were on an upward trend, last hitting the 2.9878% mark. The higher U.S. yields also saw an end to the yen's small recent recovery, with the Japanese currency sensitive to higher U.S. rates.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also said at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday that the Fed will "keep pushing" to tighten its monetary policy until there are clear signs that inflation is slowing.

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