US dollar slumps on weak GDP report

New York: The US dollar declined against other major peers on Friday after data showed the country’s second quarter economic growth came in worse than expected.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to $1.1166 from $1.1073 in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to $1.3239 from $1.3154 in the previous session, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar inched up to $0.7598 from $0.7499.

The US dollar bought 102.05 Japanese yen, lower than 105.44 yen of the previous session.

The US dollar fell to 0.9694 Swiss franc from 0.9813 Swiss franc, and it slipped to 1.3047 Canadian dollars from 1.3175 Canadian dollars.

US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2016, well below market consensus of 2.6 percent, according to the advance estimate by the Commerce Department Friday.

The department emphasized that the second-quarter advance estimate is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The second estimate for the second quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on Aug. 26.

Analysts said the downbeat economic growth dented market expectation for an interest-rate hike in the near future.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 1.17 per cent at 95.603 in late trading.

IANS