WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar stayed firm and scored gains against most major rivals on Tuesday amid growing risk appetite on hopes the Chinese central bank, which announced a surprise rate cut on Monday, will come out with more measures to boost growth.
Recent upbeat data on manufacturing activity and durable goods orders contributed significantly to dollar's uptick.
Data released by the Commerce Department Tuesday morning showed new orders for U.S. manufactured goods spiked by more than anticipated in the month of December.
The data said factory orders surged up by 1.8% in December after tumbling by a revised 1.2% in November. Economists had expected factory orders to jump by 1.2% compared to the 0.7% decrease originally reported for the previous month.
Durable goods orders soared by 2.4% in December after plunging by 3.1% a month earlier.
The dollar index rose to 98.01 early on in the session, and was last seen at 97.96, up 0.16% from previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to $1.1045, from $1.1063 on Monday. Data from Eurostat showed Eurozone producer prices declined for the fifth consecutive month in December, although the pace of fall slowed.
Producer prices decreased 0.7% on a yearly basis, slower than the 1.4% fall in November. The rate of decline matched economists' expectations.
The Pound Sterling was stronger by about 0.25% at $1.3030, compared to previous close of $1.2998. In economic news from U.K., the construction sector contracted at the slowest pace in eight months in January as receding political uncertainty after the general election boosted client demand, results of a closely watched survey showed.
The IHS Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 48.4 in January from 44.4 in December. This was the slowest fall in eight months and above the forecast of 47.1.
Against the Yen, the dollar was quite stronger, with a unit of fetching 109.50 yen, as against 108.69 yen on Monday.
The dollar was little changed against the Loonie at 1.3282, but firmed up nearly 0.4% against Swiss franc at 0.9694.
Against the Aussie, the dollar was weak, with the pair trading at 0.6736. Australia's central bank retained its record low interest rate today, as widely expected.
The board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, governed by Philip Lowe, decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at a record 0.75%.
The central bank had lowered the rate by 25 basis points in October 2019, which was the third such reduction this year.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2020 AFX News
