INV: Dollar holds steady near 1-month lows vs. rivals
Investing.com - The dollar held steady near one-month lows against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as declining expectations for a U.S. rate hike this year continued to dampen demand for the greenback.
The dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD adding 0.21% to 1.1384.
The euro's gains were held in check however, as the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said its index of German economic sentiment fell to a one-year low of 1.9 this month from 12.1 in September, well below economist’s forecasts for a reading of 6.0.
It was the sixth consecutive monthly decline.
A separate index, measuring current conditions dropped to 55.2 from 67.5 points in September, compared to expectations for a drop to 64.7.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's September policy meeting, published last week, reinforced expectations that U.S. interest rates will remain on hold until well into 2016.
The dollar was also lower against the yen, with USD/JPY shedding 0.32% to 119.66.
Demand for the safe-haven yen strengthened after official data released earlier Tuesday showed that Chinese imports tumbled 20.4% in September on a year-over-year basis, the eleventh straight monthly decline.
Exports fell by a smaller than forecast 3.7% from a year earlier, resulting in a trade surplus of $60.34 billion.
The weak data underlined concerns over weakening demand for the world’s second largest economy.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.89% at 1.5213 but was lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF sliding 0.47% to 0.9584.
Sterling was hit after data on Tuesday showing that the U.K. fell back into negative inflation in September dampened expectations for higher interest rates from the Bank of England.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics said the rate of consumer price inflation fell to -0.1% last month, from 0.0% in August. Analyst had expected a flat reading in September.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.90% to 0.7296 and with NZD/USD falling 0.36% to 0.6692.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD gained 0.40% to trade at 1.3048.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.84, the lowest level since September 18.
