US dollar declines amid profit-taking

New York: The US dollar declined against other major currencies as investors moved to secure profits.

In late New York trading on Monday, the euro climbed to $1.1633 from $1.1596, and the British pound increased to $1.3197 from $1.3125, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar increased to $0.7678 from $0.7667.

The US dollar bought 113.17 Japanese yen, lower than 113.84 yen of the previous session. The US dollar declined to 0.9953 Swiss franc from 0.9986 Swiss franc, and it edged down to 1.2838 Canadian dollars from 1.2861 Canadian dollars.

The dollar had its best week of the year last week which prompted traders to sell the greenback and take those gains, said analysts.

Meanwhile, investors continued to digest the country’s upbeat economic data.

US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, beating market consensus of 2.5 per cent, according to the advance estimate released by the Commerce Department on Friday. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 per cent.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, private inventory investment, non-residential fixed investment, exports, and federal government spending, said the department.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.33 per cent at 94.602 in late trading.

IANS