Dollar advances but remains on track to post weekly loss
Published Apr 21, 2017 12:58PM ET
The dollar remained on track to post a loss for the second straight week
Investing.com - The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies on Friday, buoyed by the release of bullish housing data while the euro dipped ahead of the first round of the French presidential election.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.15% to 99.85 by 18:01 EDT.
The dollar remained on track to post its second consecutive week of losses, despite data showing sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. hit a ten-year high in March.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday, existing home sales rose 4.4% in March from the previous month to an annualised pace of 5.71m units, which confounded economists’ estimates of a 2.5% gain.
EUR/USD traded at $1.0688, down 0.27%, while EUR/GBP dipped 0.11% to 0.8357, as the upcoming French presidential election overshadowed better than expected data French manufacturing data.
Investors grew concerned about the possibility of strong results for Marine Le pen and Jean-Luc Melenchon at the first round of French presidential election, scheduled for Sunday, April 23.
According to Opinion-Orpi’s daily poll of voting intentions, centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron remained a strong favourite to emerge victorious from the first-round of votes - market probabilities predict that Mr Macron would garner 23% of the vote.
Meanwhile, GBP/USD slipped 0.13% to $1.2795, after bearish retail sales data weighed on upside momentum.
USD/JPY traded at 108.99, up 0.31%, while USD/CAD rose by 0.30% to $1.3512.
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Written By: Investing.com
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