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Dollar weakens as US home sales drop

The US dollar weakened against the euro on Friday amid renewed concerns about US economic strength after an industry survey showed new home sales fell to their lowest levels in almost four years.

At 9pm GMT, the euro was changing hands at US$1.3438, up from US$1.3428 late on Thursday in New York. At one point in earlier trading, however, the euro had fallen as low as US$1.3409 marking its lowest level against the US dollar in six weeks.

The greenback lost ground against the New Taiwan dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange on Friday, decreasing NT$0.059 to close at NT$33.239.

A total of US$1.258 billion changed hands during the day's trading.

The US currency opened at the day's high of NT$33.290 and dipped to the day's low of NT$33.177 during trading.

The US dollar strengthened against the yen, rising to ¥121.74 from ¥121.37 late on Thursday.

Traders said the dollar had fallen against the euro in the wake of an industry report which showed US home sales fell to their lowest level in almost four years last month.

The National Association of Realtors said in a monthly report that existing US home sales dropped 2.6 percent to an annualized pace of 5.99 million last month, marking the second straight monthly decline in sales. Sales are now at their lowest ebb since June 2003.

The number of homes for sale across the US continued to mount last month, rising over 10 percent from March to a record inventory of 4.2 million properties.

The report dashed hopes that the housing market could be set for a rebound.

Some market analysts said the dollar's decline was not too bad considering the housing data.

In late New York trading, the US dollar stood at 1.2277 Swiss francs after SF1.2274.

The pound was being quoted at US$1.9837 against US$1.9845 a day earlier.

The US currency market will be closed tomorrow in observance of the Memorial Day public holiday.
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