Weak European data sends dollar higher

NEW YORK—The dollar rose against the euro Wednesday, as Europe labored under weak jobs and manufacturing data.

“Weak readings from the European manufacturing sector sparked a bout of euro weakness today,” said David Schutz of DailyFX.

The euro hit $1.3158 by 2100 GMT, down about 0.6 percent against the dollar from the day before.

Gloom over eurozone manufacturing deepened in April, highlighting the impact of policies to control budgets and signaling recessionary pressures, a Markit survey showed on Wednesday.

A key index of activity based on a survey by Markit fell to the lowest level in almost three years.

Poor jobs data from Germany and Italy increased the flow toward the safe-haven dollar.

“The euro sold off sharply against the US dollar after today’s release, which coincided with a slight rise in German unemployment,” said Schutz.

German seasonally adjusted unemployment increased slightly in April, new data showed on Wednesday.

In Italy the trend was more pronounced.

The country’s unemployment rate hit a multi-year high of 9.8 percent in March from 9.6 percent in February, official data showed.

The pound fell a tenth of a percent to $1.6201.

“The British pound fell against the dollar, though its downside was held somewhat in check by a better-than-expected construction sector purchasing managers’ index for April,” said analysts at Travelex.

The dollar was 0.6 percent higher against the Swiss unit reaching 0.9130 francs and was 0.07 percent higher against the yen to reach 80.14.