Dollar falls for second straight day ahead of US retail sales data

The US dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Friday, to deepen its losses for the second day, due to continue profit taking from a 4-week high, ahead of the release of key US data later today about monthly retail sales and industrial production.

The dollar index fell against a basket of currencies by 0.1% to 98.12 points, after opening at 98.20, and hit an intraday high of 98.23.

The US dollar fell by 0.2% yesterday, on profit taking from a 4-week high of 98.45 it hit in the previous day.

The profit taking overshadowed the positive data in the US that showed unexpected rise in producer prices in October, which is a positive sign on inflation levels in the US economy.

Investors are awaiting the release of the US retail sales for October, which is one of the most important gauges of consumer spending that accounts for 70% of the GDP, in addition to other data about the industrial production which accounts for the remaining 25%. The US dollar will deepen its losses further should these data showed weak performance.

The US retail sales reading monthly will be released at 13:30 GMT, with forecasts for a rise by 0.1 in October vs. a drop by 0.3% in September, and the core reading for the same index (excluding car sales) is expected to rise by 0.3% vs. a drop by 0.1%.

At 14:15 GMT, monthly industrial production will be released, with forecasts for a contraction by 0.4% in October unchanged from the previous reading, and the capacity utilization rate is expected to reach 77.2% in October vs. 77.5%.