US dollar slips on disappointing GDP data

NEW YORK (Apr 27) The US dollar retreated against most of major currencies on Friday after data showed US gross domestic product (GDP) growth missed market expectations.

The US real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013, according to the advance estimate released by the US Commerce Department Friday.

The figure was better than an anemic 0.4-percent growth in the fourth-quarter of last year but fell well short of consensus expectations of 3.0 percent.

The yen strengthened against the dollar as the Bank of Japan maintained its monetary easing program after policy meeting on Friday. It had decided to conduct money market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about 60 trillion to 70 trillion Japanese yen (612 billion to 714 billion U. S. dollars) after its last meeting in early April.

Moreover, US consumer sentiment fell to a three-month low of 76.4 in April after climbing to a four-month high of 78.6 in March, as Americans grew more pessimistic about the outlook for the economy, the final reading released Friday by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan suggested.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3028 dollars from 1.3016 dollars of the previous session and the British pound increased to 1.5448 dollars from 1.5443 dollars. The Australian dollar fell to 1.0282 dollars from 1.0297 dollars.

The dollar bought 98.22 Japanese yen, lower than 99.34 yen of the previous session. It edged down to 0.9429 Swiss francs from 0. 9453 Swiss francs and went down to 1.0170 Canadian dollars from 1. 0202 Canadian dollars of the previous trading day.

Historically a lower US dollar translates to higher prices for gold and silver.