Investing.com - The dollar rose against the safe haven yen on Tuesday after data showing that a slowdown in China’s fourth-quarter growth matched expectations, but gains were likely to be held in check amid persistent concerns over the outlook for the global economy.
USD/JPY was up 0.51% to 117.92 from overnight lows of 117.22 and from Friday’s four-and-a-half month lows of 116.50.
Official figures showed that the annual rate of growth in China’s economy slowed to 6.8% in the three months to December from 6.9% in the previous quarter, matching forecasts.
Full-year growth was 6.9%, slightly below the government’s target of 7% and the slowest rate of growth in a quarter century.
Other reports showed that Chinese industrial output, retail sales and fixed asset investment all ticked lower in December.
Overall the data indicated that the world’s second-largest economy is continuing to lose momentum, after falls in the nation’s currency earlier this year fueled fears over a China-led slowdown in global growth.
The low-yielding euro slid against the dollar, with EUR/USD easing 0.18% to 1.0875.
The Australian dollar strengthened on the back of the Chinese data, with AUD/USD rising 0.77% to 0.6917, off Friday’s seven-year trough of 0.6823.
Meanwhile, the pound pushed higher but remained under pressure amid uncertainty over the U.K. economic outlook and a looming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
GBP/USD was up 0.4% to 1.4299, not far from Monday’s five-and-a-half year lows of 1.4235.
The U.K. was to release data on consumer inflation later in the day, while the euro zone was to release final inflation data for December.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 99.23, holding below this year’s high of 99.75.