EUR/USD
The euro declined against the greenback yesterday loosing 0.6% to 1.3661 as day’s low, after data on new U.S. homes sales came in much better than expected and put to rest concerns the Federal Reserve may slow the pace at which it tapers monetary stimulus programs. The Commerce Department reported earlier that new home sales jumped 9.6% to 468K units in January, blowing past market expectations for a 1% decline to 400K. New home sales in December were revised up to 427K units from previously reported 414K units. Investors were looking ahead to testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday for insight as to whether or not the U.S. central bank will maintain the current pace of its cuts to monthly bond purchases. Markets largely ignored a report showing that Germany’s forward-looking Gfk consumer sentiment index ticked up to a seven-year high of 8.5 for March from 8.3 in February, indicating that the recovery in the euro area’s largest economy is gaining steam. Today, the shared currency was traded at 1.3696 as mornings trades high, and was traded at average of 1.3690.
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GBP/USD
The pound was down against the U.S dollar by 0.10% at 1.6666. In the U.K. earlier, the Office for National Statistics reported that gross domestic product increased by 0.7% in the three-month to December, unrevised from the preliminary estimate and in line with forecasts, which gave the pound some support against a firming greenback. On a year-over-year basis, the U.K. economy expanded by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, down slightly from the estimate for 2.8% growth. The largest contributors to fourth quarter growth were household spending, business investment and net trade, the ONS said. Business investments were revised up 8.5% from the same period a year earlier. Cable recorded 0.1% gain during the early trades rising to 1.6683.
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USD/JPY
The yen declined by 0.45% to 102.60 yesterday amid the homes sales in U.S. reported much higher than forecasted raising the possibility that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace at which it tapers monetary stimulus programs. The Commerce Department reported earlier that new home sales jumped 9.6% to 468K units in January, blowing past market expectations for a 1% decline to 400K. New home sales in December were revised up to 427K units from previously reported 414K units. Today, Samurai currency lost about 0.1% during the Asian trades to 102.45. and was traded at average of 102.40.
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USD/CAD
Canadian spending on construction, machinery and equipment this year may gain at the slowest pace since the last recession in 2009 as a boost from pipelines is curbed by a drop for retailers, according to a federal survey. Investments may rise 1.4 percent to C$404.5 billion in 2014, according to the annual survey of public and private organizations reported yesterday. The gain is lower than the 2013 estimate that was pared today to 1.5% from 1.7%. Private sector investment intentions rose 1.3% to 315.2 billion Canadian dollars, the survey said. Public sector investment is seen increasing 1.9% to 89.3 billion Canadian dollars. Loonie lost about 0.3% against the Greenback yesterday to be traded at 1.1144. today, the Canadian dollar showing uncertain trend during the morning trades as it fluctuated from 1.1125 as the strongest level to 1.1141 as the weakest rate during the mentioned trades.
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