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Dollar softens on profit taking after upbeat U.S. data

Published 11/14/2014, 03:27 PM
Updated 11/14/2014, 03:28 PM
Dollar dips as investors lock in gains from upbeat data and sell for profits

Investing.com - The dollar initially strengthened against its peers on Friday in wake of upbeat U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment data, though profit taking and cheery European growth numbers sent the greenback sliding later in the session.

In U.S. trading on Thursday, EUR/USD was up 0.42% at 1.2528.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall consumer sentiment index for November hit 89.4, its highest reading since July 2007, beating forecasts for an 87.5 reading.

Also in the U.S., the Census Bureau reported that U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% last month, exceeding expectations for a 0.2% gain, after a 0.3% fall in September.

Core retail sales, which exclude volatile transportation items, increased by 0.3% in October, compared to expectations for a 0.2% slip the previous month.

Friday's data bolstered expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in 2015, and gave the greenback the edge over the euro earlier, though the single currency bounced back after investors digested upbeat euro area growth figures.

Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office, reported earlier that euro area's gross domestic product rose 0.2% in the third quarter from the second, more than the expected 0.1% uptick.

The bloc's economy expanded at an annual rate of 0.8% in the third quarter, compared to expectations for 0.7% growth.

Earlier Friday, a preliminary report showed that Germany's GDP rose 0.1% in the last quarter, in line with expectations, after a revised 0.1% contraction in the three months to June.

France's economy grew 0.3% in the third quarter, exceeding expectations for growth of 0.1%, after a contraction of 0.1% in the previous quarter.

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Elsewhere in Europe Eurostat reported that inflation came in flat in October, in line with market expectations, after a 0.4% rise in September.

The bloc's annual rate of inflation remained unchanged at 0.4% last month, also in line with expectations.

Core CPI in the euro zone, which excludes food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, ticked down to an annual rate of 0.7% last month from 0.8% in September.

The data fueled further concerns over persistently low levels of inflation in the euro area. The European Central Bank targets an inflation rate of close to, but just below 2%, though Friday's growth rate eclipsed inflation data, seen by many as already priced into trading.

The dollar was up against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.44% at 116.29, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.49% at 0.9589.

The yen continued to come under broad selling pressure amid mounting speculation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could call a snap election in December, which would allow him to better push through his reforms, which call for a weaker Japanese currency to spur growth.

The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.21% at 1.5678.

The dollar was down against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.83% at 1.1275, AUD/USD up 0.46% at 0.8757 and NZD/USD up 0.37% at 0.7910.

Statistics Canada reported earlier that manufacturing sales rose by 2.1% in September, beating expectations for an increase of 1.3%. The August figure was revised to a 3.5% decline from a previously estimated 3.3% drop.

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The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.28% at 87.59.

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