SINGAPORE : The dollar crept higher on Tuesday after a survey showed U.S. credit conditions were less gloomy than expected, while the pound flirted with a one-year peak on expectations the Bank of England will raise interest rates this week.
Data showing China’s imports contracted sharply in April from a year earlier while exports grew more slowly than in March, had little impact on currencies.
The offshore yuan slipped 0.1 per cent to 6.9282 per U.S. dollar and the onshore yuan similarly fell about 0.1 per cent to 6.9218 per dollar.
“There were doubts that last month’s strong trade figures could be sustained, and so far that seems to be the case,” said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.
“That can feed into concerns of lower growth, especially when accompanied with the
softer PMI figures for April.”
Last month, China’s official PMI showed manufacturing activity unexpectedly shrank in April, in another sign of the country’s struggling economic recovery following COVID.
Source: CNA
