Dollar stays low as US home sales rise
The US dollar hovered nervously low on Wednesday as US house sales posted a third monthly rise in a row. The US house sales figures took their highest jump in over 7 years, suggesting that the housing market is stabilising and reinforced some investor’s views of a global economic recovery.
The dollar hasn’t recovered since Monday, when General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection, marking the biggest failure of a US manufacturing company in history; this in turn lowered the dollar index to 78.334, its weakest position since December 2008.
The yen rose 0.3% against the dollar to 95.46, with the Australian dollar closing 0.3% down after hitting an eight month high against the greenback. Figures also show that Sterling ended the session 0.2% down against the dollar at $1.6562 after hitting a seven month high of $1.6595 on Tuesday.