Lower demand weakens US dollar

The US dollar weakened in relation to the euro and the yen Tuesday as US consumer confidence was reported up in August and as home prices fell less quickly, reducing demand for the greenback as a safe investment.

The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index as at 54.1 in August, up from 47.4 in July and higher than expected, while property values in 20 US metropolitan areas were reported down 15.4 percent in June from last year after falling 17 percent in May from the previous May.

At shortly after 11 a.m. in New York, the greenback traded at $1.4335 to the euro while the yen was at ¥94.405 to the dollar and traded at ¥135.3283 to the shared currency while the dollar also weakened versus the South African rand and the New Zealand dollar as the rand traded at R7.7844 to the US currency and the dollar was worth 68.64 cents US to its New Zealand counterpart.

The pound weakened versus the euro and the dollar on worries about economic recovery after the Chinese premier made comments implying that global recovery could be slower than hoped.

In late morning trade in New York, the pound traded at 87.53p to the euro while it took $1.6377 to buy a pound, while the Canadian dollar traded at C$1.078 to the US dollar after a decline in oil prices.

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