Australia, New Zealand dollars up on greenback, yen

The US dollar was higher early in the day on a new report which showed that US Midwest business activity was better than expected in May, even though GDP figures from the first quarter were weaker than had been anticipated. The greenback traded as high as ¥121.98, but by midday trade in New York the dollar had retreated and was trading even at ¥121.70 against the Japanese currency. Meanwhile, the US currency lost ground to both the euro and sterling, falling by 0.2 percent against each, to $1.3460 and $1.9805 respectively.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars both did very well against the US dollar. The Australian dollar gained 0.3 percent to ¥100.31 versus the yen and was up 0.4 percent to $0.8266 versus the greenback. The New Zealand currency, meanwhile, gained 0.6 percent on the US dollar to $0.7316 and was 0.89 percent higher to ¥89.56 in relation to Japan’s currency.

Other high-yield currencies also gained in relation to the US dollar. The Mexican peso was up 0.5 percent to 10.7349 pesos to the dollar, while the Norwegian krone added 0.6 percent versus the greenback to NKr6.0300.

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