Dollar Weakens on Greenspan comments

The US dollar weakened against a variety of other currencies on Tuesday, partly as a result of profit-taking but also due to comments made by Alan Greenspan on Monday night in which he downplayed the fact that long-term bond yields have been falling while short-term yields are going up.

The dollar was down 0.2 percent in relation to the yen, to ¥106.65. It lost 0.4 percent against sterling to $1.8313, and was little changed in relation to the euro at $1.2269.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar gained 0.6 percent on the US dollar, to $0.7694, the New Zealand dollar gained 0.8 percent on the US dollar, to $0.7142, and the South African rand was also up 0.8 percent against the US dollar, to R6.6525.

The yen rose in relation to the euro, to ¥130.69, mostly due to continuing talk of Chinese currency revaluation ahead of a meeting of the G7 finance ministers this weekend, a meeting to which China has been invited.

Sterling also was up against the euro, to £0.6700.

The Norwegian krone rose 0.2 percent in relation to the euro to NKr7.8573, a new 2-year high and a gain of 3.4 percent since May 20 on first-quarter GDP growth of 0.9 percent, well above expectations, and on a rise of 2.2 percent in manufacturing output in April.

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