WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After exhibiting some strength early on in the session, the U.S. dollar turned easy and lost ground against most of its major rivals on Wednesday.
In addition to digesting the durable goods orders data for the month of July, traders looked ahead to the upcoming Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed policymakers are expected to detail the timeline for tapering of the bank's bond-buying program.
data released by the Commerce Department showed durable goods orders edged down by 0.1% in July following a 0.8% increase in June. Economists had expected orders to decrease by 0.3%.
Excluding a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders climbed by 0.7% in July after rising by 0.6% in June. Ex-transportation orders were expected to increase by 0.5%.
The dollar index, which advanced to 93.13 in the European session, dropped to 92.81 later.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to $1.1774, falling from $1.1759.
The Pound Sterling firmed against the dollar, fetching $1.3763 a unit, compared to $1.3729 Tuesday evening.
The yen weakened to 109.99 a dollar from 109.68. Final data from the Cabinet Office showed Japan's leading index, which measures the future economic activity, rose to 104.1 in June from 102.6 in May, as estimated.
Against the Aussie, the dollar drifted down to 0.7276 from 0.7258.
The Swiss franc declined marginally to 0.9137 a dollar. The Swiss investor sentiment index declined by 50.6 points from the previous month to -7.8 in August, falling into negative territory for the first time since March of 2020, a report from Credit Suisse & CFA Society Switzerland said. Meantime, the assessment of the economic situation increased to 60.5 in August from 37.2 in July.
The loonie was little changed at 1.2589 a dollar a little while ago. Data from Statistics Canada showed wholesale sales in Canada likely fell 2% month-on-month in July, declining for a second straight month.
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