Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was higher against its major counterparts on Tuesday, after downbeat euro zone investor confidence data added to concerns over the outlook for global economic growth, weighing on demand for riskier assets.
During European morning trade, the dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD edging down 0.09% to hit 1.3095.
Sentiment on the euro came under pressure after data showed that investor confidence in the single currency bloc for April deteriorated unexpectedly, remaining in negative territory for the ninth consecutive month.
Sentix said its index of investor confidence declined to minus 14.7 in April from March’s reading of minus 8.2. Analysts had expected the index to improve modestly to minus 8.1 in April.
Concerns over the debt crisis also grew after the yield on Spanish 10-year government bonds climbed to 5.8% earlier in the day, while the country’s government reiterated its aim to cut the budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product next year.
Meanwhile, Friday’s weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data continued to cast doubts over the strength of the U.S. economic recovery and fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve could conduct a fresh round of quantitative easing.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD shedding 0.16% to hit 1.5865.
Industry data showed earlier that U.K. house prices declined at the slowest pace since June 2010 in March.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ seasonally adjusted house price balance rose to minus 10 from minus 13 in February, beating forecasts for a more modest rise to minus 12.
The greenback was down against the yen, but edged higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY losing 0.28% to hit 81.26 and USD/CHF adding 0.08% to hit 0.9178.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan held its benchmark interest rate close to zero and left its JPY30 trillion yen asset-purchase fund unchanged, in a widely expected move.
The central bank said that no board member proposed additional easing at the two-day meeting concluded on Tuesday, although investors expect fresh measures to be announced at the bank’s next policy meeting on April 27.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD easing up 0.08% to hit 0.9984, AUD/USD falling 0.21% to hit 1.0291 and NZD/USD declining 0.39% to hit 0.8185.
Sentiment on the growth-linked dollars was hit after official data released earlier showed that Chinese imports declined sharply in March, dampening the outlook for global growth.
China posted a trade surplus of USD5.35 billion last month, as imports grew just 5.3% after increasing by 39.6% in February.
In Australia, a report showed earlier that an index of business confidence rose to 3 in March after a reading of 1 the previous month.
The data came after a separate report showed that job advertisements in Australia rose 1% in March after a 3.3% increase the previous month.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.07% to hit 80.02.
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