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Dollar slips after US growth data, stocks fall

Cape Town - The dollar weakened, the euro extended gains and gold climbed after data showed the US economy expanding at a slower-than-expected pace.

American stock futures followed equities from Sydney to Paris lower after a selloff in technology shares.

The greenback fell against all but two of its G-10 peers, while data showing economic sentiment in the euro-area at a two-decade high helped propel the common currency to near the highest since January 2015.

S&P futures dropped after Amazon's  earnings missed estimates, heightening concern about corporate results.

Europe’s benchmark equity gauge headed for a three-month low and government bonds across the region declined.

While the US economy rebounded in the second quarter, results for the first three months of the year showed the economy had slightly more tepid growth than previously reported. Before Friday’s selloff, signs of economic recovery had boosted stocks in the US and globally to records.

Technology shares have led the charge, with companies in the sector soaring 22% this year for the best performance among 11 groups in the S&P 500.

"With Amazon’s earnings falling short of estimates, the US market may readjust its expectations," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

"Investors are becoming increasingly wary over the historically low volatility levels, with a host of key economic data coming out in the US.

Here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks 

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 1% as of 9:03am in New York, the lowest in almost 14 weeks.

Futures on the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.3%. Germany’s DAX Index fell 0.5%. France’s CAC 40 Index sank 1.3%. The UK's FTSE 100 Index decreased 0.8%. 

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2%. The euro increased 0.4% to $1.1729. The British pound advanced 0.2% to $1.3091. The Japanese yen gained 0.2% to 111.06 per dollar, the strongest in almost six weeks.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 2.32%. Germany’s 10-year yield climbed three basis points to 0.57%, the highest in more than a week. Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 1.233%.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.3%, hitting the highest in eight weeks with its fifth straight advance. Copper declined 0.2% to $2.87 a pound, the first retreat in more than a week. Gold climbed 0.4% to $1 264.57 an ounce, the strongest in six weeks.

Asia

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.6%, erasing its gain for the week. Tech shares in the gauge fell 1.5%. South Korea’s Kospi index slumped 1.7%, the most since November, with Samsung tumbling 4.1%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.5%, with Tencent dropping 0.9%. Benchmark indexes in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore were down more than 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1%.

Japan’s Topix index fell 0.4%. Data on Friday showed that while household spending in Japan rose 2.3%, its first gain in more than a year, Japan’s key price gauge was unchanged in June.

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Rand - Dollar
19.06
-0.8%
Rand - Pound
24.04
-0.6%
Rand - Euro
20.55
-0.4%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.37
-0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.13
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Platinum
901.20
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Palladium
997.97
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Gold
2,200.01
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Silver
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Brent Crude
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Top 40
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All Share
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Resource 10
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