US dollar gains on consumer sentiment data

The US dollar saw gains on Friday after new data from the Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index showed that consumer confidence grew in January and on comments from the Richmond branch of the Federal Reserve that indicated he is more willing now to consider interest rate cuts to help the economy.

In early afternoon trade the dollar traded at $1.4629 versus the euro, a bit of a gain over Thursday’s level.

The yen fell against both the US dollar and the euro.

Hurt by a return to risk by some investors, the yen traded at ¥106.9600 to the dollar in early afternoon trade in New York while it was at ¥156.4717 to the euro, at ¥209.1640 to the pound, at ¥15.130 to the South African rand and at ¥93.9376 to the Australian dollar.

The pound also dropped versus the dollar and the euro, hurt by an 0.4 percent decline in retail sales in December after seeing a gain in November for the biggest drop in sales in almost a year.

At just before 1 p.m. in New York it cost $1.9555 to buy a pound while the UK currency traded at 74.81p to the euro.

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