Investing.com - The U.S. dollar extended gains against its major counterparts on Wednesday, ahead of a European Union summit which few expected to result in fresh measures to deal with the debt crisis in the euro zone.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar advanced against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.24% to hit 1.2464.
Hopes that European leaders would make headway on dealing with the debt crisis in the region faded after German Chancellor Angel Merkel reiterated her opposition to the idea of joint euro zone bonds earlier in the day.
Elsewhere, Italy saw borrowing costs climb to the highest level since December at an auction of six-month government bonds, as investor sentiment towards Italy continued to deteriorate.
Italy’s Treasury sold the full targeted amount of EUR9 billion of six-month government bonds at an average yield of 2.95%, up from 2.10% at a similar auction last month.
In the U.S., a report by the National Association of Realtors showed that pending home sales jumped 5.9% in May, blowing past expectations for a 1% increase, to match a two-year high hit in March.
Another report showed that U.S. durable goods orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in May, beating expectations for a 0.4% increase, indicating that the manufacturing sector is stabilizing following a 0.2% drop in May.
However, core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in May, missing expectations for a 0.7% gain.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.48% to hit 1.5567.
The pound remained under pressure as expectations for fresh easing by the Bank of England overshadowed an industry report showing that U.K. retail sales climbed to the highest level since December 2010 in June, boosted by the Jubilee celebrations.
Elsewhere, the greenback pushed higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY adding 0.26% to trade at 79.73 and USD/CHF rising 0.25% to 0.9635.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD up 0.22% to hit 1.0260, AUD/USD inching up 0.06% to hit 1.0071 and NZD/USD slipping 0.11% to hit 0.7700.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.28%, to 82.78.
Investors were looking ahead to the outcome of talks between Chancellor Merkel and French President François Hollande later in the day, ahead of the summit meeting on Thursday and Friday.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar advanced against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.24% to hit 1.2464.
Hopes that European leaders would make headway on dealing with the debt crisis in the region faded after German Chancellor Angel Merkel reiterated her opposition to the idea of joint euro zone bonds earlier in the day.
Elsewhere, Italy saw borrowing costs climb to the highest level since December at an auction of six-month government bonds, as investor sentiment towards Italy continued to deteriorate.
Italy’s Treasury sold the full targeted amount of EUR9 billion of six-month government bonds at an average yield of 2.95%, up from 2.10% at a similar auction last month.
In the U.S., a report by the National Association of Realtors showed that pending home sales jumped 5.9% in May, blowing past expectations for a 1% increase, to match a two-year high hit in March.
Another report showed that U.S. durable goods orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in May, beating expectations for a 0.4% increase, indicating that the manufacturing sector is stabilizing following a 0.2% drop in May.
However, core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in May, missing expectations for a 0.7% gain.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.48% to hit 1.5567.
The pound remained under pressure as expectations for fresh easing by the Bank of England overshadowed an industry report showing that U.K. retail sales climbed to the highest level since December 2010 in June, boosted by the Jubilee celebrations.
Elsewhere, the greenback pushed higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY adding 0.26% to trade at 79.73 and USD/CHF rising 0.25% to 0.9635.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD up 0.22% to hit 1.0260, AUD/USD inching up 0.06% to hit 1.0071 and NZD/USD slipping 0.11% to hit 0.7700.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.28%, to 82.78.
Investors were looking ahead to the outcome of talks between Chancellor Merkel and French President François Hollande later in the day, ahead of the summit meeting on Thursday and Friday.