USD weaker as euro strengthens

The US dollar weakened Tuesday after increased risk appetite reduced demand for the greenback and on new data which showed that the US trade deficit widened to $27.6 billion in March.

Meanwhile the euro strengthened on remarks from European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet indicating that Bank officials believe the economy is beginning to get better, pointing to the possibility that the recent cut in Eurozone interest rates could be the end of reductions for now.

At midmorning in New York the dollar traded at $1.3643 to the shared currency while it took ¥96.6 to buy a dollar and ¥132.65 to buy a euro.

The pound saw gains on new data which showed some improvements in the UK‘s economy.

While UK industrial production declined again in March, according to the Office for National Statistics, the rate of declines slowed.

In addition, although more real estate agents and surveyors saw house prices fall than rise in April, the difference between the number of real estate agents and surveyors seeing declines and those seeing gains was the smallest since January of last year, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, while the British Retail Consortium said that UK retails sales were up in April compared to April of last year.

At around 10:30 a.m. in New York, the pound traded at 89.5p to the euro while it took $1.5244 to buy a pound.

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