The US dollar and the yen both weakened Monday on increased investor appetite for higher-yielding currencies after a report said that Chinese manufacturing activity remained in expansion for a third consecutive month in May, although the Chinese Federation of Logistics and Purchasing’s Purchasing Manager’s Index dropped to 53.1 in May from 53.5 in April.
A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed that US manufacturing contracted less than it has in eight months as the ISM’s manufacturing index was up to 42.8 in May, from 40.1 in April for its highest reading since September.
In late morning trade in New York, the greenback traded at $1.4166 to the euro while it was at 80.73 cents US to the Australian dollar.
At the same time the Norwegian krone traded at kr6.2015 to the US dollar and the Russian ruble was at 30.637 rubles to the greenback while the yen traded at ¥96.65 to the US dollar, at ¥78.0253 to the Australian dollar and at ¥62.5235 to the New Zealand dollar.
Meanwhile, the pound strengthened on positive news about UK manufacturing and house prices after the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply said its factory index was at 45.4 in May, up from 43.1 in April, while Hometrack Ltd. said that house prices in England and Wales dropped only 0.3 percent in April.
The pound traded at 86.29p to the euro while it took $1.6408 to buy a pound.
