FX round-up: Dollar rises but pound falls after inflation data
The dollar rose against most of its major rival currencies on Tuesday following in-line US consumer price inflation and strong home sales data.
US consumer prices increased 0.2% month-on-month in February, adhering to consensus expectations after January saw a 0.7% decline.
Meanwhile, new home sales jumped by 7.8% to 539,000 in February, surprising analysts who were expected a decline to 465,000 from January's 500,000.
The EUR/USD receded 0.37% to $1.0904 while the dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six others, advanced 0.42% to $97.64.
While inflation was only modest, analyst Craig Erlam from Oanda said: "When set against the Eurozone however, the US is experiencing robust price rises, and this helped the US dollar to recover some of the ground lost over the past week in the wake of Janet Yellen’s decision to pull the rug out from underneath dollar bulls."
The USD/JPY rose 0.12% to 119.87 while the GBP/USD dropped 0.63% 1.4861 following data which showed that the annual rate of UK consumer price inflation slowed to 0% in February from 0.3% the previous month and below the 0.1% forecast.