The US dollar fell against other major currencies in yesterday’s trading data, and continued to decline on Thursday after it failed to benefit from economic data on Wednesday. Many analysts expect volumes to remain weak during the last week of the year. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against six major currencies, fell 0.24% to trade at 92.44 points.
The dollar fell for the third day in a row, almost reaching a three-month low. Some analysts believe that the USD’s weakness is due to sales after President Donald Trump signed the tax bill. The dollar also failed to move with news that initial jobless claims remained flat last week. The Ministry of Labor declared on Thursday that the number of applicants for initial unemployment benefits in the week ending on December 22 was fixed at 245,000.
The economic data released yesterday left the dollar unchanged. Pending home sales rose by 0.2% per month, compared with a 0.4% drop expectation. At the same time, the consumer confidence index fell to 122.1 in December from 128.6 last month, contrary to expectations for December, which were situated at 128.
The greenback has been near its lowest level against the Canadian dollar since October 23, with USD/CAD shedding 0.37% to hit 1.2609. The greenback was also down against the yen, with USD/JPY shedding 0.34% to hit 112.81. The euro rose against the dollar by 0.32% with the EUR/USD trading at $1.1933. On Thursday, the European Central Bank issued the Economic Bulletin for December, saying that the euro zone is moving towards expansion and inflation is expected to rise gradually.
The pound also rose against the dollar by 0.34%, trading at $1.3447. Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars remained stronger than the US dollar, with the AUD gaining 0.35% and the AUD/USD trading at 0.7793 / USD while the New Zealand Dollar was up 0.41% at 0.7083.
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