Investing.com - Less-than-stellar U.S. reports on factory orders and the country's trade balance weakened the dollar against most major currencies on Tuesday, ending several session of strong gains fueled by diverging global monetary policies.
In U.S. trading on Tuesday, EUR/USD was up 0.56% at 1.2554.
U.S. factory orders fell for a second consecutive month in September, dampening optimism over the pace of U.S. recovery, official data revealed earlier.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported earlier that factory orders declined by 0.6% in September, in line with market expectations though still a decline nonetheless.
The August figure was revised to a 10% contraction from an initial 10.1% decline.
The numbers gave investors room to sell the greenback for profits, wiping out gains stemming from divergent monetary policies coupled with upbeat U.S. manufacturing, consumer sentiment and economic growth reports.
Elsewhere in the U.S., the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the country's trade deficit widened to $43.03 billion in September from $39.99 billion in August, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of $40.1 billion.
Analysts had expected the U.S. trade gap to widen to $40.0 billion in September.
The single currency held well into positive territory despite downward revisions made to the continent's growth forecasts.
The European Commission cut its forecast for euro zone economic growth to 0.8% this year from a 1.2% forecast made in the spring, while the 2015 growth forecast dipped to 1.1% from 1.7%.
The commission added it expects euro area inflation to remain below the European Central Bank's target of close to but just below 2% until after 2016 at the earliest and warned that unemployment levels will remain at their current high levels for longer than previously expected.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.39% at 113.55, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.65% at 0.9596.
The yen bounced back after investors felt the currency had fallen far enough due to a Bank of Japan decision to raise its monetary base target to an annual increase of ¥80 trillion from ¥60-70 trillion, a preemptive move to steer the economy away from deflationary decline while improving the chances of reaching inflation goals.
Adding to recent pressure, a Japanese government panel overseeing the Government Pension Investment Fund approved plans on Friday for the fund to raise its holding of foreign stocks to 25% of its portfolio from 12%.
The policy shifts caught many investors off guard and pummeled the yen, though by Tuesday, the currency regained composure against the greenback.
The greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.19% at 1.6004.
Sterling held firm against a sliding greenback despite data revealing that growth in the U.K. construction sector slowed to a five-month low in October as residential building growth slowed sharply.
Research group Markit Economics reported that its construction purchasing managers’ index declined to 61.4 from 64.2 in September. It was the lowest reading since May and was below forecasts of 63.5.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.37% at 1.1400, AUD/USD up 0.65% at 0.8736 and NZD/USD up 0.78% at 0.7780.
Statistics Canada reported that the country's trade balance swung into a surplus of C$0.71 billion in September from a deficit of C$0.46 billion in August, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$0.61 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to C$0.70 billion in September.
Demand for the commodity-linked loonie remained under pressure as crude oil prices dropped more than 1% after Saudi Arabia lowered prices to buyers in the U.S. and amid ongoing concerns over the health of the global economy.
The Aussie received a boost after the Reserve Bank of Australia left rates on hold at 2.5% earlier Tuesday and indicated that monetary policy was likely to remain steady.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.41% at 87.09.
On Wednesday, expect the dollar to move on U.S. service-sector data.