The dollar is posting very slight gains against its major rivals Wednesday afternoon, but is little changed overall. Trading action remains light after last week’s Christmas holiday and with New Year’s Day quickly approaching. Economic data also remains sparse this week, but U.S. pending home sales logged an unexpected decrease in November.
An indicator of future home sales unexpectedly declined in November, indicating the third decline in the last four months.
The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index fell 0.9 percent in November. Economists had expected an increase for the month.
The NAR said that rising home prices and limited home availability contributed to the decline.
Investors can look forward to the release of weekly jobless claims data and the Chicago PMI report tomorrow morning. Markets will be closed on Friday.
The dollar dipped to an early low of $1.0943 against the Euro Wednesday, but has since climbed to around $1.0910.
Eurozone money supply increased at a slower pace in November and annual growth in loans to households improved from October, the European Central Bank reported Wednesday. The broad monetary aggregate M3 climbed 5.1 year-on-year in November, slower than October’s 5.3 percent increase and a 5.2 percent rise forecast by economists.
The buck rose to a high of $1.4792 against the pound sterling Wednesday morning, but has since pulled back to around $1.4825.
U.K. house prices increased the most in eight months in December as a strong labor market underpinned buyer demand amid shortage of properties.
House prices grew 0.8 percent in December, faster than the 0.1 percent gain seen in November, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed Wednesday. This was the fastest growth since April, when prices climbed 1 percent and also exceeded an expected growth of 0.4 percent.
England/Wales house price growth accelerated in November to the highest level in eight months, figures from Land Registry showed Wednesday. House prices climbed 5.6 percent year-over-year in November, faster than the 5.2 percent hike in the preceding month.
The greenback dipped to an early low of Y120.345 against the Japanese Yen Wednesday, but has since risen to around Y120.600.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com