"There's a good chance that the euro and sterling continue to do well," he said. "It starts with the disinflation story in the U.S., which is something that people are not really latching on to."
The euro rose 0.37% to $ 1.0966 after two consecutive daily declines of more than 0.5%, while the dollar index , a measure of the greenback against six major currencies,
slid 0.372% . The index rose over 1% in the last two trading sessions. China's offshore yuan fell 0.02% at $6.8799 per dollar.
Britain's pound jumped despite an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate in the three months to February as pay growth stayed higher than forecast, which could prompt the Bank of England to hike its interest rate again in May.
"The surprise this year has been how strong the Euro has been and Sterling, especially, given that we were coming out of the second half of last year with a multitude of crises in Europe," Wizman said. Sterling was last trading at $ 1.2433 ,
up 0.48%
on the day.
Futures traders are pricing in an 87.4% chance of the Fed raising rates by 25 basis points at its next meeting in May, with traders still expecting rate cuts towards the end of the year.
U.S. single-family homebuilding
increased for a second straight month in March, while
permits for future construction surged, offering a bit of hope
for the depressed housing market ahead of the busy spring
selling season.
"The dollar can remain sensitive to the strength, or not, of the economic data as the Fed likely nears the end of their tightening cycle," said Kristina Clifton, an economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). The Australian dollar rose 0.34% versus the greenback at $0.672 after Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) minutes showed the central bank considered an 11th-consecutive rate hike in April before deciding to pause.
The RBA, however, said it was ready to tighten further if inflation and demand failed to cool.
The yen strengthened 0.38% at 133.99 per dollar. The Mexican peso
lost 0.33% versus the dollar at
18.07
.
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World FX rates Dollar 18 aPRIL ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Herbert Lash, additional reporting by Samuel
Indyk in London and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by
Marguerita Choy and Mark Potter)
