LOC15:20
12:20 GMT
KUWAIT, Oct 29 (KUNA) -- The US dollar last week appreciated against most of its major counterparts as the majority of economic data released exceeded expectations, a report has revealed.
US third quarter GDP to jobless claims, durable goods, new-home sales and PMI indices were better than expected, yet the positive indicators were not the only reason behind the greenback's appreciation, the latest report by the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) added on Sunday.
The US dollar found further support following the recent Japanese elections which resulted in a landslide victory for Shinzo Abe, indicating an extension to the Bank of Japan's currently adopted loose monetary policy, it noted.
According to the report, the US economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the third quarter, signaling a persistent demand from businesses and consumers even with the hit of the hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
GDP grew at a 3 percent annualized rate following a 3.1 percent gain in 2Q, best back-to-back quarters since 2014.
Final sales to domestic purchasers, which remove trade and inventories, climbed 1.8 percent the slowest since early 2016.
As for the European economy, the report said that the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its policy rate unchanged at 0.00 percent last Thursday.
However, the ECB President Mario Draghi announced the future structure of the QE program. The current 60 billion euro monthly asset purchase program will be cut into half, 30 billion monthly starting from January 2018 till September 2018.
It also left the door open to extend the QE beyond September or raise amounts if needed.
Domestic price pressures are still muted overall and the economic outlook and the path of inflation remain conditional on continued support from monetary policy. (end)
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