New York, Nov 16 (IANS) The US dollar climbed against most major currencies as economic data from the country came out better than expected.
In late New York trading on Tuesday, the euro fell to $1.0720 from $1.0729, and the British pound dipped to $1.2440 from $1.2491, Xinhua news agency reported. The Australian dollar rose to $0.7545 from $0.7540.
The dollar bought 109.13 Japanese yen, higher than 108.42 yen in the previous session.
The dollar inched up to 1.0021 Swiss francs from 0.9985 Swiss francs, and it fell to 1.3468 Canadian dollars from 1.3560 Canadian dollars.
The US Commerce Department announced on Tuesday that advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for October increased 0.8 per cent from the previous month to $465.9 billion, beating market consensus of a 0.6-per cent gain.
The positive sales data bolstered market speculation for an interest-rate hike by year-end.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.09 percent to 100.200 in late trading.
The greenback had been increasing for five consecutive sessions as President-elect Donald Trump's potential economic policies boosted market expectation for further interest-rate increases.
Analysts said that the rising possibility of tax cuts and a generally pro-growth set of policies from Trump, aided and abetted by the Republican clean sweep of congress, raised market speculation for a revival in inflation as well as more rate-hikes in the future.
