Forexpros – The U.S. dollar remained higher against most of it major counterparts on Tuesday, following slightly stronger-than-expected U.S. services data and after talks between finance ministers from the G7 group ended without any clear signs of progress on the euro zone.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.39% to hit 1.2449.
Sentiment on the euro remained negative after a teleconference between finance ministers from the G7 group of industrialized nations concluded without a breakthrough in tackling the ongoing debt crisis in the single currency bloc.
Speaking following the talks, Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said G7 members agreed to work together to deal with problems in Spain, while adding that officials did not discuss the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro area.
The euro fell to a session low against the greenback earlier after Spain’s treasury minister said that financial markets were effectively closed to Spain because of the current high level of the country’s borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, weak euro zone service sector data underlined concerns over the ongoing deterioration in the region’s economy.
Revised data showed that the euro zone’s services sector contracted at a slightly slower rate than initially expected in May, but still shrank at the fastest pace since June 2009.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.13% to hit 1.5362.
Elsewhere, the greenback was stronger against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY climbing 0.44% to hit 78.68 and USD/CHF rising 0.39% to hit 0.9647.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD dipping 0.04% to hit 1.0389, AUD/USD adding 0.15% to hit 0.9742 and NZD/USD shedding 0.30% to hit 0.7541.
The Canadian dollar found support after the Bank of Canada left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1% earlier, and flagged up the possibility of a rate hike in the coming months, saying “some modest withdrawal of the present considerable monetary policy stimulus may become appropriate.”
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.29%, to trade at 82.89.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing manager’s index inched up to 53.7 last month from a reading of 53.5 in April. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
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