Business
US dollar slips on soft data
New York, Aug 1
The US dollar fell against
most major currencies as economic data from the country came out
negative, dampening market sentiment for an interest-rate hike as early
as September.
The US employment cost index registered the
smallest quarterly gain in 33 years. The index, which is seen as the
broadest measure of labour costs, rose just 0.2 percent in the second
quarter, the labour department said on Friday.
The latest reading was below market consensus of a 0.6-percent gain, reported Xinhua news agency.
Analysts
said the weak data took some shine from the robust GDP report and
curbed expectations for the central bank to raise interest rates in this
quarter.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.34 percent to 97.227 in late trading.
In
late New York trading, the euro rose to $1.0981 from $1.0921 in the
previous session, and the British pound climbed to $1.5618 dollars from
$1.5600. The Australian dollar went up to $0.7304 from $0.7286.