Reuters: US Dollar Report: FOREX-Dollar falls against the euro and yen but no clear driver

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FOREX-Dollar falls against the euro and yen but no clear driver Jul 25th 2013, 13:40 Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:40am EDT * German Ifo numbers just beat expectations * Sterling falls after in-line UK GDP numbers * NZD up, market sees less dovish RBNZ statement NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against the euro, yen and New Zealand dollar on Thursday with investors finding good news in Europe and New Zealand but nothing to drive the U.S. currency. The euro was near a one-month peak in New York trading after an earlier German Ifo survey showed business morale was slightly better than expected. The influential think tank's business climate index rose to 106.2 in July from 105.9 a month ago, just ahead of forecasts of a 106.1 reading. The euro waxed and waned after the news but picked up momentum as U.S. buyers entered the market. The New Zealand dollar rose to a one-month high as investors detected a more hawkish tone from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The euro is "generally supported by recent strength in euro zone economic data that has signaled stabilization in the 17-member bloc's economy," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. "Yesterday's much stronger than expected euro zone PMI data signaled that the bloc's economy may have bottomed, while overnight, German Ifo business morale also topped market forecasts." The euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.3217, having hit a session high of $1.3238. Surveys on Wednesday showed a quicker-than-anticipated expansion in German and French private sector business activity and lifted the euro to a one-month high of $1.3256. Sterling was down 0.1 percent at $1.5303, after data showed the British economy grew 0.6 percent in the second quarter, picking up from the previous quarter for an a 1.4 percent annual pace. On Sterling trading activity "currency traders were clearly looking for more given the recent string of upside economic surprises," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX Strategy at BK Asset Management in New York. The Bank of England is expected to issue 'forward guidance' next month that it will keep rates low to support growth. Despite Thursday's moves, the dollar's upward trend is expected to continue. The dollar has shown a high correlation to Treasury yields in recent weeks as the market has focused on when the U.S. Federal Reserve might start tapering its monetary stimulus. A report showed that, in dollar terms, the headline durable goods orders total of $244.5 billion has finally regained a record level, surpassing the previous peak of $242.96 in December 2007, the month the United States entered recession. Durables orders troughed in April 2009, two months before the recession ended, at $144.4 billion and have risen more than $100 billion from that low. [ID:nCATPIE93Y}. The dollar fell 0.5 percent against the yen on Thursday to 99.73 yen. Yet the yen remains the worst performing of the 36 most actively traded currencies against the dollar year to date with a 13.6 percent drop. Some US$3.7 billion in euros changed hands on Thursday, using Reuters data, with US$1.9 billion in yen. The New Zealand dollar was up 1.4 percent at US$0.8041, near an earlier one-month high of $0.8056 as investors detected a more hawkish tone from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. "There was a lot more emphasis on the potential inflation spillover from construction costs and housing market," said Jane Turner, a senior economist at ASB Bank in London. "We still expect the RBNZ to first lift the official cash rate in March 2014." If that prediction proves correct, New Zealand could be the first developed nation to begin a rate tightening cycle. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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