NEWS / Foreign Exchange

Dollar weathers US data release

LONDON: The dollar weathered news yesterday that headline US retail sales had fallen in June, with traders paying more attention to upward revisions of data that excluded volatile car sales figures.

The euro eased to $1.2643 in late European trading from $1.2691 late in New York on Thursday.

The dollar rose to ??116.36 from ??115.37 late on Thursday.

US retail sales fell by 0.1% in June, dragged lower by a 1.4% drop in automobile sales. When the latter figure was stripped out, retail sales in June rose by 0.3%. At HBOS, Steve Pearson said while the headline figure was disappointing, the core figure helped the dollar.

Calyon analyst Mike Carey said: ???Overall, the headline data is weaker than expected, although upward revisions to the core reading mean it is arguably in line with expectations.

The euro was changing hands at $1.2643 against $1.2691 on Thursday, ??147.12 (146.42), ??0.6885 (0.6881) and 1.5627 Swiss francs (1.5601).

The dollar stood at ??116.36 (115.37) and 1.2357 Swiss francs (1.2295).

The pound was being traded at $1.8355 (1.8345). ??“ AFP