· The U.S. dollar turned positive against a basket of major rivals on Tuesday after touching its lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years as traders brushed aside concerns surrounding a North Korean missile launch over Japan.
The dollar, which had touched its lowest level against the yen in 4-1/2 months earlier on widespread risk aversion following North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile over northern Japan’s Hokkaido island into the sea, jumped more than half a percent against the Japanese currency in afternoon U.S. trading to a 12-day high of109.89 yen.
The euro was last roughly flat against the greenback at $1.1980 after earlier hitting a more than 2-1/2-year high and breaking through the critical $1.20 level to $1.2069.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last up 0.1 percent at 92.336 after touching its lowest since January 2015 of 91.621 earlier.
· The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index increased to a reading of 122.9 this month from120.0 in July. That was the strongest reading since March when the index hit a 16-year high of 124.9. August was also the second highest reading since 2000.
U.S consumer confidence surged to a five-month high in August as households grew increasingly upbeat about the labor market while house prices rose further in June, suggesting a recent acceleration in consumer spending was likely to be sustained.
· North Korea said the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) was to counter U.S. and South Korean military drills and was a first step in military action in the Pacific to “contain” the U.S. territory of Guam.
The United Nations Security Council condemned North Korea’s firing of a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday as an “outrageous” act and demanded that Pyongyang not launch any more missiles and abandon all nuclear weapons and programs.
· North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile on Tuesday in a drill to counter the joint military exercises by South Korean and U.S. militaries, the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday.
· The U.S. Congress started to come to grips on Tuesday with crafting a multibillion-dollar Hurricane Harvey emergency aid package that President Donald Trump suggested could be historically large, without providing specifics.
· U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 edged down 13 cents or 0.3 percent to $46.44 a barrel. International Brent crude futures LCOc1 closed up 11 cents or 0.2 percent to $52.00 a barrel.
U.S. gasoline futures jumped 4 percent while crude prices were mixed on Tuesday after a hurricane shut down more than 19 percent of the country’s refining capacity, curbing fuel production and further bloating crude inventories.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng