Dollar little changed after upbeat U.S. data Investing - The dollar was little changed close to 10-week lows against the yen on Thursday as investors digested data showing that U.S. jobless claims fell more than expected last week and U.S. retail sales beat expectations in May. During European afternoon trade, the dollar was trading near its lowest level since April 4 against the yen, with USD/JPY falling 1.81% to 94.24. The Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 12,000 to 334,000, compared to expectations for a decline of 1,000 to 345,000. Separately, the Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.6% in May, led higher by increased automobile purchases, beating forecast for a 0.4% increase. Core retail sales, which exclude auto sales, were up 0.3%, in line with expectations. The dollar slumped against the yen earlier as concerns over the prospect of an end to central bank stimulus fuelled a broad based sell-off in risk assets and the greenback. Earlier this week the Bank of Japan disappointed expectations for measures to ease volatility in the government bond market. The BoJ’s lack of action, along with expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin to scale back its asset purchase program fuelled safe haven inflows in to the yen. Market sentiment was also hit after the World Bank revised down its forecast for global growth this year to 2.2% from 2.4% at the beginning of the year. The dollar eased back from three-and-a-half month lows against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.12% to 1.3322. Elsewhere, the greenback was almost unchanged against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.01% to 1.5676 and edged higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF rising 0.14% to 0.9217. The greenback was broadly lower against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD jumping 1.07% to 0.9579, NZD/USD climbing 0.13% to 0.7991 and USD/CAD falling 0.51% to 1.0157. In Australia, official data showed that the economy added 1,100 jobs in May, confounding expectations for a decline of 10,000 and the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.5% from 5.6% in April. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept rates unchanged at 2.5% following its latest policy meeting on Thursday and said it expected rates to remain on hold for the rest of this year. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.19% to 81.01.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:33:32 +0000
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