Manufacturing reports hurt currencies

The euro weakened versus the US dollar and the Japanese yen Friday, while the pound was weaker in relation to both the shared currency and the greenback on the news that manufacturing in the Eurozone and the UK continued to contract in December.

Separate reports showed that one index of European manufacturing dropped to 33.9 in December while a German manufacturing index fell to 32.7, more of a decline than had been anticipated, while the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s manufacturing index was slightly higher than in November but remained near a record low at 34.9 in December.

The US currency didn’t fare well either, however, losing some of its gains after the Institute for Supply Management said that its US factory index dropped to 32.4 in December, down from 36.2 in November.

In late morning trade in New York the dollar traded at $1.3966 to the shared currency while it took ¥90.93 to buy a dollar and ¥126.73 to buy a euro.

Also hurting the pound was a report that home mortgage approvals were down to 27,000 in November.

At just before 11 a.m. in New York, the pound traded at 96.24p to the euro while it took $1.4512 to buy a pound.

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