© Reuters. One hundred dollar bills in a photo from the Reuters archive.
By Amanda Cooper and Tom Westbrook
LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar hovered at a six-week high ahead of economic data that could help determine future direction, while it fell ahead of monthly corporate activity data.
Strong data for the US labor market and the continuation of inflation at high levels raised expectations of continuing to raise US interest rates, and supported the dollar’s rise this month.
After a quiet day on Monday for the President’s Day holiday in the United States, the dollar traded at 134.65 yen, up 0.3 percent. It rose 0.2 percent against the euro at $1.0665.
It is heading towards recording an increase for the fourth week in a row, and it rose 1.7 percent since the beginning of February, but it settled at about 104, retreating from the highest level in six weeks, which it recorded on Friday, at 104.67.
The Australian dollar fell 0.5% to $0.6878, giving back some of the gains it made on Monday.
The pound fell 0.3 percent against the dollar to $1.20065, but it performed better against the euro and traded at 88.81 pence.
(Prepared by Marwa Salam for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Rehab Alaa)