The U.S. dollar soared against other major currencies on Tuesday after slumping to seven-month lows against the Japanese yen and euro in the previous session.
The U.S. dollar plummeted on Monday following a rout in global equity markets. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 1.71 percent at 93.386 in late trading on Monday.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, announced on Tuesday a cut in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and lower key interest rates.
Worries over China's economic slowdown was soothed by the move, which was described in a PBOC statement as "promoting restructuring" to "stabilize the real economy". Market sentiment was also lifted by the overall positive U.S. economic data.
Sales of new single-family houses in July were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 507,000, up 5.4 percent from the previous month, said the Commerce Department Tuesday. U.S. consumer confidence for August came in at 101.5, up from 91.0 in July, according to the New York-based research group Conference Board Tuesday.
The upbeat data renewed investors' expectation for an interest- rate hike this year. The dollar index was up 1.22 percent at 94. 473 in late trading. In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1423 dollars from 1.1591 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5685 dollars from 1.5773 U.S. dollars in the previous session.
The Australian dollar inched down to 0.7160 dollar from 0. 7184 dollar. The U.S. dollar bought 119.79 Japanese yen, higher than 118.62 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar hiked to 0.9442 Swiss franc from 0.9336 Swiss franc, and it surged to 1.3319 Canadian dollars from 1.3241 Canadian dollars.
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