Sterling gains on factory orders

Sterling gains on factory orders

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The US dollar had a roller coaster of a day Wednesday after new housing data showed that existing homes sales dropped to 6.33 million in July, the lowest level in over two and a half years, adding yet another reason why many analysts believe that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates where they are when they meet in September. However, further housing figures that showed US prices on homes continuing to rise, by 0.4 percent in June, sent the greenback up again.

The result of all this activity was to leave the US currency largely unchanged against the euro, the yen, and the Swiss franc at midday. The dollar was at $1.2785 against the euro, at ¥116.44 versus the Japanese yen, and at SFr1.2359 in relation to the Swiss franc. Elsewhere, the greenback dropped 0.2 percent to $1.8920 versus sterling after a report in the UK had factory orders at a 20-month high. The US dollar also dropped 0.4 percent each against the New Zealand and Canadian dollars, to $0.6394 and C$1.1105 respectively.

The news on factory orders in the UK also sent sterling up by 0.2 percent to A$2.4812 in relation to the Australian dollar, while it added 0.3 percent to £0.6756 against the euro and was 0.4 percent higher to SFr2.3399 versus the Swiss franc.