CURRENCIES: Dollar Trims Gains After Weaker-than-expected Durable-goods Report

Pound finds support after Conservative-DUP deal

The dollar gave back some ground versus major rivals after weaker-than-expected data on orders for big-ticket items.

The ICE Dollar Index , a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was little changed at 97.292, giving up a modest gain after U.S. government data showed orders for durable goods such as plans and computers fell 1.1% in May (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/orders-for-durable-goods-backslide-again-2017-06-26) following a similar decline in April. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.8% decline.

The euro erased a modest loss versus the U.S. unit to turn slightly higher, changing hands at $1.1215--that's up from $1.1193 late Friday in New York. Earlier, the shared currency failed to get a boost from German data that showed business sentiment hit a record in June. The Ifo business climate index rose to a higher-than-expected 115.1 points (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/german-business-sentiment-hits-record-in-june-2017-06-26).

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said early Monday that gradual rate hikes are needed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-williams-says-gradual-rate-hikes-are-needed-for-growth-2017-06-26) to avoid overheating the economy, while Fed Gov. Jerome Powell said he sees room to relax (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-powell-reiterates-his-call-for-relaxing-some-banking-regulations-2017-06-26) certain banking rules. On Tuesday, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker will speak in London, while Williams will give another speech in Australia.

In other currencies, the pound rose after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May reached a deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party for its lawmakers to support the Conservative's minority government (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uks-dup-reaches-deal-to-support-minority-tory-government-reports-2017-06-26). Sterling bought $1.2737, up from $1.2718 late Friday in New York.

The dollar trimmed a gain versus the Japanese currency after the durables data. The dollar bought 111.39 yen versus around Yen111.66 ahead of the data and compared with Yen111.29 on Friday.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2017 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)