US dollar strengthens on profit-taking
April 20, 2006
The US dollar strengthened on Thursday after three days of losses, but the gains were explained by profit taking by most analysts, rather than any real shift in sentiment. The gains came even though the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators showed weakening due to rising energy prices.
The greenback added 0.4 percent versus the euro to $1.2321, while it was up 0.3 percent to ¥117.56 in relation to the Japanese yen and it gained 0.7 percent against sterling, to $1.7795. In addition, the US dollar was up 1.3 percent versus both the Australian and New Zealand dollars, to $0.7371 and $0.6261 respectively. The US currency also added 2 percent to $6.06 in relation to the South African rand.