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| Commodity News |
| HeadLine : |
Dollar gains on upbeat U.S. housing data, ECB stimulus talk |
| Date : |
Oct 22 2014 |
The dollar traded largely higher against most major currencies on Tuesday, buoyed by upbeat U.S. home sales numbers and talk of fresh European Central Bank stimulus programs, though lackluster Chinese economic growth figures capped gains.
Dollar gains on upbeat U.S. housing data, ECB stimulus talkDollar firms on U.S. housing data, though soft Chinese growth numbers water down gains
In U.S. trading on Tuesday, EUR/USD was down 0.59% at 1.2724.
The single currency slid and gave the dollar room to rise after Reuters reported that the European Central Bank may purchase corporate debt to boost slowing inflation rates in the euro area and kick start recovery.
The report said the bank could activate the new stimulus plan as soon as December and begin bond purchases by early next year.
The ECB began purchasing covered bonds on Monday in a bid to increase liquidity in the region, and talk of fresh stimulus programs softened the euro and boosted the dollar.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales increased 2.4% to 5.17 million units in September from 5.05 million in August.
Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1% to 5.10 million units in September, and the better-than-expected figure boosted demand for the greenback.
While European and Asian central banks are seen taking steps to loosen policy, the Federal Reserve is expected to close its bond-buying program this month and begin hiking interest rates some time in 2015.
Still, the dollar battled headwinds out of China, where data revealed the economy grew at an annual rate of 7.3% in the three months to September, slightly higher than the 7.2% forecast by economists but still slower than the 7.5% rate recorded in the second quarter.
It was the slowest rate of growth since the first quarter of 2009, in the midst of the global financial crisis, and the numbers pressured the greenback earlier on fears a slower global economy may weigh on U.S. recovery.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.07% at 106.87, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.59% at 0.9484.
The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.27% at 1.6122.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.55% at 1.1222, AUD/USD down 0.01% at 0.8783 and NZD/USD down 0.13% at 0.7957.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.41% at 85.40.
On Wednesday, the U.S. is to produce data on consumer prices.
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