USD, yen, pound gain on euro

The US dollar and the Japanese yen both made gains against the euro on Friday after the shared currency was hurt by new data showing that Eurozone inflation was up just 1.1 percent in January, while at the same time the region’s unemployment rate rose to 8 percent.

Gains for the US dollar came even though the Commerce Department said that the US gross domestic product contracted at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter, less of a drop than had been expected.

Meanwhile, the pound saw gains on new numbers showing that mortgage approvals in the UK were up to 31,000 in December from 27,000 in November against an expected decline.

Earlier in the session, the pound had declined after a new survey showed that UK consumer confidence is now at its lowest level in thirty-five years.

At shortly before noon in New York the dollar traded at $1.2814 to the euro while the yen was at ¥115.1269 to the euro and at ¥89.845 to the greenback, while at the same time, the pound traded at 89.9p to the euro and it took $1.4413 to buy a pound.

The yen, helped by predictions of a retreat from carry trades financed by the low-yielding Japanese currency, also rose to ¥57.1951 to the Australian dollar and to ¥8.7969 to the South African rand.

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