LONDON (AFP) - The euro advanced on the dollar Wednesday but gains were limited following reports from the United States giving a mixed picture of the US economic recovery.
The single European currency in late-day trade was at 1.4632 dollars against 1.4581 late Tuesday in New York.
The dollar was meanwhile trading at 89.52 yen, down from 90.10 on Tuesday.
Market sentiment was affected by data from the United States showing a sharp slowdown in US economic contraction as well as worse-than-expected employment figures.
Revised data revealed a smaller-than-expected 0.7 percent pace of output decline.
That figure was better than last month's estimate of a 1.0 percent drop and stronger than the average estimate of private economists for a 1.2 percent annualised rate of decline.
The report appeared to confirm that the world's biggest economy was emerging from its long recession and rebounding from a hefty 6.4 percent tumble in the first quarter of 2009.
The latest report "sets the stage for an improved economic outlook for the rest of 2009 and throughout 2010," said Aaron Smith at Moody's Economy.com.
"The downturn appears to have concluded this summer, and the economy is on track to grow for the first time in more than a year in the third quarter," he said.
"The initial phase of growth is being driven by rapid recoveries in housing and manufacturing, diminishing drags from equipment spending and non-residential construction, and government support."
For currency investors the growth results stood in contrast to a report from payrolls firm ADP that the US private sector shed 254,000 jobs in September.
The figure was the smallest number of job losses in more than a year for nonfarm private employment but higher than the 200,000 expected by most analysts.
Investor morale was also unsettled by news that manufacturing activity in the Chicago area unexpectedly fell into negative territory in September after having stabilised in August.
Taken together the reports released Wednesday raised questions about US economic prospects and prompted traders to begin to favor the safe-haven dollar over the euro in late trade.
In London on Wednesday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4632 dollars against 1.4581 dollars late on Tuesday, 130.87 yen (131.40), 0.9146 pounds (0.9137) and 1.5185 Swiss francs (1.5111).
The dollar stood at 89.52 yen (90.10) and 1.0386 Swiss francs (1.0362).
The pound was at 1.5988 dollars (1.5956).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold jumped to 995.75 dollars an ounce at the fixing from 989.50 dollars an ounce late on Tuesday.
53.19 (0.46%)
