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U.S. consumer confidence falls in April
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U.S. new home sales rise, beat forecasts
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Focus on BOJ meeting on Friday
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Samuel Indyk NEW YORK/LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Tuesday as market sentiment turned risk-averse amid worries about earnings and the outlook for the global economy, which knocked the euro off a nearly 10-month high.
The U.S. dollar index climbed 0.6% to 101.81, having dropped over 3.3% since the beginning of March.
A weak consumer confidence report and a decline in Federal Reserve manufacturing data further added to the dollar's safe-haven appeal. Data showed U.S. consumer confidence fell to a nine-month low in April, a survey showed on Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 101.3 - the lowest since July 2022 - from a revised 104.0 in March. The U.S. Richmond Fed manufacturing index slid as well, down at -10 in April., the fourth straight month of contraction.
Both surveys negated strong U.S. housing data, which showed new home sales beat estimates with a 9.6% rise in March to a one-year high of 683,000 after net revisions. "Today is more about defensive risk sentiment, especially in equities. It's hard to detect a strong trend though," said Vassili Serebriakov, FX strategist at UBS in New York. "The bias is for dollar weakness, but I think until U.S. data weakens substantially, it's hard to see that trend really picking up," he added. News on Monday of plunging deposits at First Republic Bank served as a reminder that stability risks have not entirely died down, while UBS reported a 52% slide in quarterly income.
Still, safe haven currencies - such as Japan's yen - firmed, even as the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) new governor Kazuo Ueda signalled he was not in a hurry to shift policy. This week's BOJ meeting, which concludes on Friday, is his first in charge. "You need to respect the guidance that Ueda is giving, that we won't see any changes on Friday. But I think tightening will come from the BOJ, maybe in June or July, because inflation is well above target," said Jens Nærvig Pedersen, director, FX and rates strategy, at Danske Bank.
The yen rose 0.3% to 133.855 per dollar and was up 0.9% at 146.95 per euro , having earlier touched an eight-year low of 148.635.
The euro was down around 0.6% against the dollar at $1.0979, having risen 1.7% so far in April and over 4% since the beginning of March. ECB board member Isabel Schnabel told Politico that a 50 basis point (bp) rate hike was not off the table and would depend on data - notably inflation figures due two days before May's meeting. Elsewhere, sterling was down 0.6% at $1.24, but was close to a 10-month high of $1.2545 reached earlier this month.
The Australian dollar dropped 0.9% to US$0.6636 as traders waited for inflation data due on Wednesday, while the New Zealand dollar was at US$0.6144, down 0.4%.
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 10:59AM (1459 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change
Session
Dollar index 101.8300 101.2500 +0.58% -1.604% +101.8600 +101.1900
Euro/Dollar $1.0978 $1.1046 -0.62% +2.45% +$1.1068 +$1.0975
Dollar/Yen 133.8550 134.2550 -0.29% +2.10% +134.4550 +133.7200
Euro/Yen 146.95 148.26 -0.88% +4.74% +148.6100 +146.9000
Dollar/Swiss 0.8923 0.8876 +0.53% -3.50% +0.8924 +0.8862
Sterling/Dollar $1.2400 $1.2483 -0.65% +2.55% +$1.2507 +$1.2388
Dollar/Canadian 1.3615 1.3541 +0.55% +0.49% +1.3626 +1.3525
Aussie/Dollar $0.6633 $0.6696 -0.93% -2.68% +$0.6705 +$0.6628
Euro/Swiss 0.9793 0.9805 -0.12% -1.03% +0.9815 +0.9777
Euro/Sterling 0.8851 0.8844 +0.08% +0.08% +0.8876 +0.8842
NZ $0.6143 $0.6167 -0.39% -3.25% +$0.6187 +$0.6143
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway 10.6580 10.5280 +1.21% +8.57% +10.6600 +10.5200
Euro/Norway 11.7022 11.6267 +0.65% +11.52% +11.7065 +11.6066
Dollar/Sweden 10.3033 10.2371 -0.04% -1.00% +10.3046 +10.2274
Euro/Sweden 11.3111 11.3156 -0.04% +1.45% +11.3435 +11.2934
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates FX update 2 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York; Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Sam Holmes and Mark Potter)
rm://gertrude.chavez.reuters.com@reuters.net))