KUWAIT, Oct 10 (KUNA) -- The greenback continued to fall against a basket of currencies last week reaching new lows, pressured by weak employment data and heightened expectations of further quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) reported on Sunday.
The Euro reached a high of USD 1.4028, breaching the USD 1.4000 level, before closing the week at 1.3940, according to the NBK's latest Weekly Money Market Report.
The Sterling Pound reached a high of USD 1.6017.
The Japanese Yen strengthened against the Dollar towards the end of the week, reaching a 15-year high of 81.74 on Friday before trading at a low of 83.
98 on Tuesday.
The Swiss Franc reached an all-time high at USD 0.9556, the report pointed out.
The Australia dollar reached a 28-year high at USD 0.9920 with a low of USD 0.9542 earlier during the week. Finally, spot Gold hit a new record high of USD 1,364.60.
As for the housing market, the report said the number of contracts to purchase existing homes in the United States increased for a second month, a sign the housing market is beginning to stabilize. Pending home sales index rose 4.3 percent in August, more than the expected 2.8 percent rise.
Home sales have steadied after dropping dramatically in the months following the expiration of the housing tax credit.
Regarding the service sector, the report noted that the service companies in the US expanded at a faster pace than estimated in September, indicating the economic recovery is picking up.
The Non-Manufacturing Index of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), which covers about 90 percent of the economy, rose to 53.2 from 51.5 points in August, where any measurement above 50 indicates growth.
Dealing with the employment data, the report said the US suffered another month of weak job growth in September, adding to the pain of Democrats as they campaign for mid-term elections to Congress and increasing the chances that the Federal Reserve will restart quantitative easing.
The private sector created 64,000 jobs in September, but overall payrolls fell by 95,000 as the government laid off census workers. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent.
The number of Americans claiming new jobless benefits fell by 11,000 last week to its lowest level since July; giving some hope that hiring may be steadying, though at a still-depressed level.
The US department of labor reported that 445,000 US workers requested benefits from the government last month, extending the streak of declines in claims to four weeks.
The less-volatile four-week moving average of claims fell to 455,750, also its lowest since July.
In Europe the European Central Bank left its main interest rate unchanged at a record low of one percent, as widely expected, for the 17th consecutive month amid concerns over the economic outlook.
The ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said that "more than ever, exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals," adding that "excess volatility and disorderly moves have adverse implications for economic and financial stability," even as his reluctance to consider easier policy helped push the Euro to a nine-month high against the dollar. - Kuna