Dollar is stable amid mixed indicators from US economy and GBP is rising

The dollar was little changed on Thursday as investors digested mixed US economic data, while the British pound rose ahead of the government’s budget plans.

The greenback has fallen in the past few weeks as inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve officials suggested the bank could soon slow the pace of interest rate hikes.

However, the dollar stabilized on Thursday after US retail sales data for October, which was released on Wednesday, came out stronger than expected.

The euro also settled against the dollar at 1.039, after hitting its highest level since July at $1.048 on Tuesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance against six major currencies, was unchanged at 106.27. The index has fallen more than 7 percent since reaching a 20-year high in September, but has remained up about 10 percent for the year.

The pound sterling rose 0.18 percent against the dollar to $1.193 in morning trading in London, and rose the same amount against the euro.

Hard-line comments from Fed officials Wednesday night added to suspicions of a policy shift, with San Francisco Federal Reserve Chair Mary Daley saying a pause was off the table.

The dollar fell 0.2 percent against the Japanese yen on Thursday, to 139.28, as it hovered around its lowest level in three months. It fell 3.7 percent on Thursday last week when US consumer price inflation data for October came in lower than expected.

And the Chinese yuan fell 0.36% to 7.126 against the dollar, as new Covid infections raised concerns that officials might order more closures.

The Australian dollar fell 0.15% to $0.673, while its New Zealand counterpart rose 0.28% to $0.616.