US dollar gains ground

Story link: US dollar gains ground

The US dollar was stronger Tuesday as it added 0.4 percent to both the euro and sterling, to $1.3570 and $2.0100 respectively and gained 0.6 percent in relation to the Swiss franc, to SFr1.2150.

On the other hand, the Australian dollar bested its US counterpart by 0.5 percent to $0.8260 on new data that had the Australian economy growing by 0.9 percent in the second quarter of the year, much better than had been anticipated.

The yen, however, weakened on new data that showed recent credit market problems had not had much effect on manufacturing after the Institute of Supply Management said that its manufacturing index as at 52.9 in August, just barely lower than the expected 53.

That was enough to send investors back in search of carry trades.

In midday trade in New York, the yen was trading even versus the euro at ¥157.70, while it dropped 0.1 percent to ¥233.75 in relation to sterling and was down 0.4 percent against the greenback.