Commodity News
HeadLine : Dollar mostly lower amid data points
Date : May 14 2013
The U.S. dollar traded lower against nearly all of its major rivals during Tuesday’s Asian session following a deluge of data points released earlier Tuesday.

In Asian trading Tuesday, EUR/USD rose 0.36% to 1.3024 despite headlines that said the euro zone’s current recession is the longest and deepest in the era of the common currency. Economists surveyed believe euro zone GDP fell 0.1% in the first quarter. That would represent a six-quarter decline, worse than what was seen during the global financial crisis.

GBP/USD rose 0.18% to 1.5327 after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said U.K. housing demand hit a three-and-a-half year high in April. The RICS said its seasonally adjusted house price balance rose +1, though economists expected an increase of +2.

The government’s Help to Buy program, announced in March is seen as helping boost U.K. housing demand.

USD/JPY fell 0.29% to 101.54 after the Bank of Japan said prices of domestic corporate goods in Japan rose 0.3% in April, easily topping forecasts that called for a 0.1% increase. On a year-over-year basis, prices were flat, but that was better than the expected decline of 0.2%.

USD/CHF slid 0.44% to 0.9535 while USD/CAD fell 0.14% to 1.0094 as oil prices inched higher.

In U.S. economic news, U.S retail sales rose 0.1% in April following a decline in March. The increase was helped by 1% rise in auto sales. Excluding auto sales, U.S. retail sales fell 0.1% in April. That data was published by the U.S. Commerce Department.

AUD/USD jumped 0.35% to 0.9989 as the Aussie continues to battle it out with the greenback at the parity level.

NZD/USD climbed 0.36% to 0.8281 after Statistics New Zealand said real retail sales there rose 0.5% in the first quarter compared with a fourth-quarter gain of 1.9%. Including price changes, New Zealand retail sales rose 0.7%, but economists expected an increase of 1.1%.

The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.29% to 83.11.
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