Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts in Asian trade Thursday, following gains on Wall Street and the release of better-than-expected U.S. economic data.
In mid-day Asian trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.04% to hit 1.4408.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that core durable goods orders jumped by a seasonally adjusted 4% in July, after rising 0.6% the previous month.
Market expectations were for orders for U.S. durable goods to fall by 0.4% last month.
Orders for automobiles in July surged 11.5%, the largest gain in eight years. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose only 0.7%.
Wall Street shares rallied for a third day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 1.3%, the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.9%, and the S&P 500 picked up 1.3%.
Meanwhile, the greenback was up against the British pound, with GBP/USD down fractionally by 0.01% to 1.6373.
The dollar surrendered ground to both the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY retreating 0.11% to hit 76.89, and USD/CHF lower by 0.14% to hit 0.7946.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD up 0.05% to hit 0.9875, AUD/USD lower by 0.23% to hit 1.0449, and NZD/USD rising 0.02% to hit 0.8286.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.01% at 74.10.
Global investors were expected to pay particular attention to Friday’s scheduled speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, at the central bank’s annual convention in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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