The euro advanced slightly against the dollar this afternoon , despite a strong set of US economic data. Analysts said the good figures had already been priced in. "People were expecting very good numbers and as a result the dollar hasn't really reacted," noted David Mann, forex strategist at Standard Chartered in London. Early afternoon, the dollar had spiked higher in its initial response to better-than-expected retail sales figures for March.
Retail sales leapt 2.1 pc in March from the previous month, beating forecasts for a 0.8 pc rise. But analysts noted the figures were flattered by the revised 1.3 pc drop in February, which was largely due to bad weather. Meanwhile, producer prices rose 1.4 pc in March, faster than the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists polled by AFX News. However, these were also skewed towards autos and were flat if auto prices were taken out.//www.fxcentre.com