By Ritu,
With the release of a series of data, the U.S. dollar gained some ground on Friday in Asia after declining for two weeks.The U.S. dollar index rose 0.08% to 97.035 by 11:30 PM .
The greenback has made a slight comeback after drifting further on Thursday on the news of U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives. Trump is the third president to be impeached in U.S. history but is likely to survive a trial in the GOP-led Senate, which is expected to vote in January.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a flat manufacturing index for December on Thursday. The current general activity index fell 10.1 points to 0.3 in December – this is its weakest reading in six months and far below economists’ expectations of 8, according to a Reuters survey. The index tracks manufacturing in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
“Manufacturing activity in the region was flat this month…” the federal reserve bank said in a release. “The survey’s broad indicator for current activity dropped to a reading near zero this month, although indicators for new orders, shipments, and employment remained at higher positive readings.”
“The survey’s future activity indexes remained positive, suggesting continued optimism about growth for the next six months,” it added.
The USD/JPY pair dropped 0.03% to 109.33.
The NZD/USD pair was down by 0.03% to 0.6604.
The AUD/USD pair was trading at 0.6894, up 0.15%.
