Dollar drops on profit taking, awaits jobless data

Dollar drops on profit taking, awaits jobless data

Investing.com – Profit taking send the dollar falling against most major currencies on Tuesday after investors locked in gains from Monday's better-than-expected manufacturing report and sold the greenback for profits.

In U.S. trading on Tuesday, EUR/USD was up 0.37% at 1.3592.

A day earlier on Monday, the dollar rose after the Institute for Supply Management reported that U.S. manufacturing activity in November expanded at its fastest pace since April of 2011, fueling hopes that U.S. recovery is gaining steam.

The ISM manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 57.3 in November from 56.4 in October.�

Analysts were expecting the index to fall to 55.0, and the surprise uptick sparked demand for the dollar.

The report stoked market expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back its monthly asset-purchasing program in early 2014.

Fed bond purchases tend to keep the dollar weak by driving down long-term interest rates to spur recovery.

Tuesday profit taking wiped out the greenback's gains, as investors waited on the sidelines for the release of the November jobs report on Friday.

Monetary authorities have said they'll pay close attention to data, especially out of the labor market, before deciding when to scale back bond purchases.

Elsewhere, better-than-expected data out of the Spanish labor market weakened the dollar further by bolstering the euro.

Spain reported that the number of unemployed individuals in the country declined by 2,500 in November, defying more pessimistic consensus forecasts calling for an increase of 44,300 and much better than October's 87,000 increase.

The greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.28% at 1.6402.

Industry data revealed that the U.K. construction purchasing managers' index rose to 62.6 in November, its highest level since August of 2007, from 59.4 in October. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 59.0.

The report came a day after data showed that the manufacturing sector in the U.K. expanded at the fastest rate in 33 months in November, which fueled expectations that the Bank of England may tighten monetary policy ahead of other central banks.

The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.57% at 102.35, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.47% at 0.9046.

The yen saw demand from bargain hunters after dropping on expectations for the Bank of Japan to beef up stimulus programs to meet its 2% inflation target by 2015.

On Monday, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda pledged to counter any new downside risks to the bank's inflation goal, saying the BoJ would act by "adjusting monetary policy without hesitation."

The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.07% at 1.0651, AUD/USD up 0.35% at 0.9138 and NZD/USD trading up 0.86% at 0.8256.

The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to leave rates unchanged at 2.5% on Tuesday in a widely expected decision.�

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.39% at 80.61.

On Wednesday, the U.S. is to release the ADP report on private-sector job creation, while the Institute of Supply Management is to release its service-sector purchasing managers' index. The U.S is also to publish data on new home sales and data on its trade balance.�