WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar exhibited weakness on Tuesday, extending recent slide, as concerns about the coronavirus pandemic raised expectations the Federal Reserve may well come out with further stimulus announcements sometime soon.
Slightly increasing risk appetite amid reports the infection curve is flattening in several parts of the globe contributed a bit to the dollar's slide.
The dollar indexd dropped to 98.83, losing more than 0.5%.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to $1.0986, goind down by about 0.7% from Monday's close.
The Pound Sterling strengthened to $1.2635, gaining more than 1%.
The Japanese currency gained as well with a unit of dollar fetching 107.22 yen, less than Monday's close of 107.76 yen.
The dollar was notably weak against the Swiss currency at 0.9605 franc, and the Aussie at 0.6443.
Against the loonie, the dollar was changing hands at C$1.3880.
Stronger than expected Chinese trade data weighed as well on the dollar. China's imports rose an annual 2.4% in the month, beating expectations for a 7% drop. Imports declined 2.4% in February.
Exports fell 3.5% compared to the expected slide of 12.8%. Exports declined by 15.9% in February. The trade surplus for the month narrowed to CNY 130 billion from CNY 158.5 billion in February.
Some European countries began to ease lockdown restrictions, with the governments of Italy and Spain taking tentative steps this week to send certain workers back to their jobs and allowing some shops to reopen.
Germany is also weighing conditions for lifting restrictions, while there are indications that the U.K. will extend the lockdown by another three weeks until at least May 7.
Currency traders also digested the data on U.S. import and export prices. Import prices in the U.S. showed a steep drop in the month of March, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Tuesday, while export prices also fell sharply.
The Labor Department said import prices plunged by 2.3% in March after falling by a revised 0.7% in February. The nosedive reflected the largest monthly drop in import prices since January of 2015.
Economists had expected import prices to tumble by 1.7% compared to the 0.5% drop originally reported for the previous month.
The bigger than expected decrease in import prices came as prices for fuel imports plummeted by 26.8% in March after sinking 9% in February. Prices for petroleum and natural gas both showed substantial decreases.
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