US dollar declines before presidential debate

New York, Sep 27: The US dollar slipped against most major currencies on Monday ahead of the country's first presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Analysts said the debate has cast huge amount of uncertainties over the country and thus hurt the currency, Xinhua news agency reported.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.23 per cent at 95.262 in late trading.

On the economic front, US sales of new single-family houses in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 609,000, beating market consensus, reported the Commerce Department on Monday.

This is 7.6 per cent below the revised July rate of 659,000, but is 20.6 per cent above the August 2015 estimate of 505,000.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1258 dollars from 1.1230 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.2970 dollars from 1.2958 dollars. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7639 dollars from 0.7617 dollars.

The dollar bought 100.35 Japanese yen, lower than 101.10 yen in the previous session. The dollar slipped to 0.9686 Swiss francs from 0.9697 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3212 Canadian dollars from 1.3174 Canadian dollars.