LONDON (AFX) - The dollar was lower across the board in midday trade as the market braced for a weak reading in the US National Association of Purchasing Managers' index later this afternoon, dealers said. Tomorrow's US labour market report is also expected to show weakness, possibly denting the dollar further. With most of Europe closed for All Saints Day, focus is firmly on developments in the US, especially after yesterday's better-than-expected third-quarter GDP numbers and the relatively encouraging Chicago purchasing managers' index. But Steve Pearson, head currency strategist at Halifax said the US's run of good fortune is unlikely to go on indefinitely. "The market is nervous ahead of the NAPM and labour market data. Players are going short," he said, adding that there is a natural reluctance to take positions ahead of the numbers. Correspondingly the yen, the euro and sterling all rose against the dollar. Sterling shrugged off a dismal Confederation of British Industry distributive trades report which recorded the sharpest fall in volume of sales in the survey's 18 year history to surge past teh 1.46 usd mark in convincing fashion. Taken together with the fall in yesterday's GfK consumer confidence survey, there is increasing indication that consumer demand is starting to flag, Pearson said. But the news was not all bad, with the UK purchasing managers' index coming in a shade higher than in the previous month. The main index rose to 46.7 in Oct from 46.5 in Sept. Arguably, the reading was more flat than anything but a lot better than what many had expected, Pearson said. Elsewhere, the Canadian dollar continued to decline amid concerns that there will be a major slowdown in its exports to the US. The rationale is that countries running current account account surpluses are the most vulnerable to recession in the US. In Canada's case, the problem is magnified as the US is its biggest export market, Pearson said.