US dollar lower versus euro, sterling

Story link: US dollar lower versus euro, sterling

The US dollar was temporarily buoyed by a new report showing that US Midwest business activity was better than expected in May, even as GDP figures from the first quarter were weaker than had been anticipated. The greenback was as high as ¥121.98 versus the yen on the mixed news, but by midday trade in New York, the dollar had retreated and was trading even at ¥121.70 against the Japanese currency. At the same time, the US currency lost ground to both the euro and sterling, falling by 0.2 percent against each, to $1.3460 and $1.9805 respectively.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars both did very well against the US dollar and the yen as much better results from global equities markets on the day led investors to be willing to take on more risk. This appetite for risk led some analysts to warn that while the Australian currency seemed to be doing well based on capital spending data, the New Zealand dollar could cause trouble due to high interest rates there and a great deal of debt among consumers.

The Australian dollar added 0.3 percent to ¥100.31 versus the yen and was up 0.4 percent to $0.8266 versus the greenback. The New Zealand currency, meanwhile, gained 0.6 percent on the US dollar to $0.7316 and was 0.89 percent higher to ¥89.56 in relation to Japan’s currency.

Other high-yield currencies were also higher against the US dollar, as well. The Mexican peso gained 0.5 percent to 10.7349 pesos to the dollar, while the Norwegian krone added 0.6 percent versus the greenback to NKr6.0300 after retail sales were up in April in Norway and unemployment fell more than had been anticipated there in May.