US dollar declines on retail sales data

The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies on Thursday as retail sales data from the country came out negative.

The advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August were 456.3 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the Commerce Department.

On the other economic front, the Producer Price Index for final demand was unchanged in August, seasonally adjusted, missing market expectations, the Labor Department said Thursday.

In the week ending Sept. 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 260,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week' s unrevised level of 259,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

U.S. industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in August, after rising 0.6 percent in July, announced the Federal Reserve.

The overall downbeat economic data dented market sentiment on Thursday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.06 percent at 95.270 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1243 dollars from 1.1250 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.3237 dollars from 1.3236 dollars. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7513 dollars from 0.7472 dollars.

The dollar bought 102.12 Japanese yen, lower than 102.40 yen in the previous session. The dollar slipped to 0.9714 Swiss francs from 0.9736 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.3149 Canadian dollars from 1.3200 Canadian dollars.

Source : XINHUA