LONDON, 15 September 2005 — The dollar fell slightly against the euro and yen yesterday amid the release of a disappointing US retail sales figure for August. Europe’s single currency rose to 1.2285 dollars here from 1.2268 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 110.23 yen from 110.61 on Tuesday. Pushing the dollar lower was news that a slump in car sales had driven US retail sales down by 2.1 percent in August from July. But excluding autos, the Commerce Department said sales rose 1.0 percent on the month, with half of the increase coming from higher sales of gasoline owing to sky-high prices at the pump.
The euro was changing hands at 1.2268 dollars against 1.2268 late on Tuesday in New York, 135.44 yen (135.72), 0.6730 pounds (0.6730) and 1.5451 Swiss francs (1.5472). The dollar stood at 110.23 yen (110.61) and 1.2573 Swiss francs (1.2612).
Meanwhile, European stock markets staged a modest rally yesterday. The London FTSE 100 index rose 0.18 percent to 5,347.4 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 gained 0.19 percent to 4,911.17 points and in Paris the CAC 40 won 0.38 percent to 4,470.43. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading euro zone shares advanced 0.40 percent to 3,338.99 points.
In New York, US blue chips edged up yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8.04 points, or 0.08 percent, at 10,605.48, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 1.58 points, or 0.13 percent, at 1,232.78. The technology-laced NASDAQ Composite Index was down 3.99 points, or 0.18 percent, at 2,167.76.
Asian stocks closed very mixed yesterday. The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 67.70 points to 12,834.25 as 2.40 billion shares changed hands. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed up 16.06 points at 15,086.62.
In Sydney, the broader All Ordinaries index was up 17.3 points at 4,473.6 to beat its previous best of 4,462.7, also reached on Aug. 22. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 3.0 points to 2,313.25. In Bombay, The 30-share Sensex index slipped 4.48 points to 8,189.48.
