By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar gained into a ninth straight day on Thursday, with Europe’s woes and signs of a cooling Chinese economy keeping investors away from riskier plays.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.16% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six rivals, traded at 80.095, edging up from 80.083 in late North American trading Wednesday.
Chinese trade data Thursday showed a sharp drop in activity in April. with import and export growth falling well short of expectations. Read more on Chinese data.
“The poor import number bodes ill for [gross domestic product] growth. It should be a wake-up call for policy makers to do more to stimulate domestic demand, and is likely to lead to further elevated fiscal spending and monetary easing,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, strategist at Credit Agricole.
Gains made earlier this week for the dollar came as investors weighed the likelihood of Greece exiting the euro following an inconclusive election result over the weekend that raised questions about political support for the country’s latest bailout package.
On Thursday, the euro EURUSD +0.26% slipped to $1.2943, down from $1.2954 in late trading the previous day.
The British pound GBPUSD +0.13% traded at $1.6134, down from $1.6141 late Wednesday, ahead of an interest-rate meeting at the Bank of England.
“We are not expecting any change to the asset-purchase target,” said strategists at RBC Capital Markets of the upcoming British central bank decision, due later in the day.
The Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.71% , however, rose to $1.0092, up from $1.0058 late Wednesday, after some strong Australian employment data for April. Read more on jobs data
Against the safe-haven Japanese yen USDJPY +0.10% , the dollar reached ¥79.64, broadly steady from ¥79.65 recorded in late trading Wednesday.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
