The US Dollar edged higher against the Pound and was little moved against the Euro despite the release of worse-than-expected US new home sales data which weighed upon demand for the ‘Greenback’.
According to the Washington based Commerce Department showed that the number of purchases for new US homes plunged in July by the biggest margin in more than three years and previous month’s data was revised downward. The data suggests that the US housing market is slowing as mortgage rates rise.
Sales dropped by 13.4% to an annual rate of 394,000 units. The reading was well below expectations as economists had called for the annual rate to exceed the 490,000 unit sales pace. Mortgage rates in the US have soared since May as speculation mounts that the Federal Reserve will wind down its monetary stimulus programme as the US economy improves.
Sterling strengthened against the US Dollar earlier in Friday’s session, after official data showed that the U.K’s GDP grew by 0.7% in the second quarter of the year, higher than expectations for a 0.6% expansion.
Separately, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said, in a preliminary report, that business investment rose by 0.9% in the last quarter, beating expectations for a 0.6% increase, after a 1.9% decline in the three months to March.
Current US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6403
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7484
The US Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1114
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 98.9297
The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0560
(Correct as of 15:40 pm GMT)
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