Investing.com - The dollar remained broadly lower against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after the release of mostly downbeat U.S. economic reports continued to fuel concerns over the strength of the economy.
The greenback regained some ground after New York Federal Reserve head William Dudley said the U.S. is edging closer toward the point in time where it will be appropriate to raise interest rates further.
But the dollar remained under broad selling pressure after data showed that U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July from a month earlier, compared to expectations for a 0.1% gain. Year-over-year, consumer prices increased 0.8%, below expectations for a gain of 0.9%.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, increased by 0.1%, below forecasts that had expected it to remain in line with the 0.2% advance seen in July.
A separate report showed that U.S. housing starts rose 2.1% to hit 1.211 million units last month from June’s total of 1.186 million units, while building permits declined 0.1% to 1.152 million units.
On a more positive note, U.S. industrial production increased by 0.7% last month, better than expectations for a gain of 0.3%.
EUR/USD advanced 0.73% to 1.1266, the highest since June 24.
Earlier Tuesday, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment rose to 0.5 this month from July’s reading of -6.8 that had been its lowest level since November 2012. Analysts had expected the index to increase to 1.8 in August.
The index of euro zone economic sentiment increased to 4.6 in August from -14.7 a month earlier. Consensus was looking for a read of -6.3.
GBP/USD climbed 0.72% to 1.2973, off Monday’s one-month trough of 1.2862.
The pound strengthened after the U.K. Office for National Statistics said the rate of consumer price inflation rose by an annual rate of 0.6% last month, above forecasts for a gain of 0.5% and compared to the 0.5% increase seen in June.
Month-over-month, consumer prices fell 0.1% in July, in line with forecasts and after the prior month’s 0.2% increase.
USD/JPY retreated 0.74% to 100.50, while USD/CHF tumbled 1.10% to 0.9631.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.08% at 0.7678 and with NZD/USD rising 0.30% to 0.7237.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD was down 0.31% at 1.2881, off a one-and-a-half month low of 1.2799 hit earlier in the session.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.67% at 94.95, after hitting seven-week lows of 94.38 earlier in the day.