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"Expectations for a rate hike dampen" USD Higher than most Currencies ahead of data releases
USD – “US retail sales” and “Consumer Sentiment Data” to be released today.
The US dollar was steady against major currencies on Friday ahead of US retail sales and consumer sentiment data expected later in the day.
EUR/USD traded at 1.1144 as expectations for a rate hike this year lowered because of Thursday’s report that US initial jobless claims lost 1,000 falling to 266,000 last week much lower than expectations for a 4,000 drop.
USD/JPY added 0.14 percent trading at 102.09.
GBP/USD was also steady at 1.2955 close to one month low of 1.2934, the British Pound continued to suffer from last week’s decision by the Bank of England (BOE) to lower interest rates.
Other data releases effected the market, including Chinese industrial production which was higher at 6.0 percent in July and retail sales which were higher by an annualized rate of 10.2 percent.
The Australian dollar was lower than the US dollar following the Chinese trade data which did not meet expectations. AUD/USD lost 0.26 percent trading at 0.7190.
NZD/USD lost 0.21 percent trading at 0.7195.
The US dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies was last seen at 95.91.