U.S. dollar falls amid GDP report

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-30 03:57:46|Editor: huaxia
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NEW YORK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar index decreased against most other major currencies in late trading on Wednesday, as investors digested the country's newly-released economic growth data.

U.S. economic growth was revised to an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, slightly higher than the 4.1 percent previously estimated, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.

The strong growth in the second quarter was powered by a rebound in consumer spending, business investment and exports, according to the department.

Personal consumption expenditures, which account for more than two thirds of the overall economy, grew at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the second quarter, slightly lower than 4 percent previously estimated but higher than the 0.5 percent growth in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, U.S. pending home sales fall for the seventh straight month in July.

Signed contracts to buy existing homes fell 0.7 percent in July compared with June, according to the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index. The index was down 2.3 percent compared with July 2017.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.11 percent at 94.6052 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.1698 dollars from 1.1696 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.3020 dollars from 1.2867 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7299 dollar from 0.7335 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 111.69 Japanese yen, higher than 111.21 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9713 Swiss franc from 0.9766 Swiss franc, and it dipped to 1.2917 Canadian dollars from 1.2931 Canadian dollars. Enditem

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