USD weakens on confidence, house price data

Story link: USD weakens on confidence, house price data

The US dollar declined in relation to the euro and the yen after the Conference Board issued new data showing its confidence index at 50.4 in June, down from 58.1 in May.

Also hurting the greenback, new numbers from the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index was down 15.3 percent in April from the same time last year after having fallen more than 14 percent in March.

The new data made it seem less likely that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates anytime this year.

In early afternoon trade in New York, the dollar was trading at $1.5581 to the euro while it took ¥107.9800 to buy a dollar.

The pound was also weaker in relation to the euro on a report from the British Bankers Association, which said that loan approvals for house purchases were down 20 percent in May from the previous month and down 56 percent from the number granted in May last year, to just 27,968 approvals.

At just past noon in New York, the pound traded at 79.12p to the euro but it was up in relation to the US dollar, which traded at $1.9694 to the pound.

The Australian dollar was stronger versus both the US dollar and the yen after China agreed to pay higher prices, amounting to an average of 85 percent more, for iron ore, according to a report from mining group Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO; LSE: RIO; NYSE: RTP).

The Aussie traded at 95.61cents US in early afternoon trade in New York, while it took ¥103.2995 to buy one Australian dollar.

On the other hand, the New Zealand dollar weakened against the greenback and the yen in anticipation of a report due Friday which is expected to show that the nation’s economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of the year.

At early afternoon in New York it took 75.85 US cents to buy a New Zealand dollar while the kiwi was worth ¥81.933.