LONDON, April 15: The dollar strengthened across the board on Tuesday, briefly hitting a seven-week high against the pound following a raft of robust data from the United States.

The European single currency fell in late European trade to $1.5795 from $1.5828 in New York late on Monday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose to 101.39 yen from 101.05.

The dollar was buoyed by a 1.1 per cent rise in the US Producer Price Index for March following February’s 0.3 per cent increase, and an unexpected rebound in the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Empire State Manufacturing Index.

Further support came shortly after from the Treasury Department’s TICS report that net monthly purchases by overseas investors of US securities totalled $64.1bn in February, nearly reversing the decline seen in January.

“Today’s TICS report dovetailed with US PPI and Empire Manufacturing to knock the wind out of dollar bears who are searching this week for a catalyst to test the $1.6000 barrier in the euro/dollar,” said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to 929.75 dollars per ounce from 926.50 dollars late on Monday.

—AFP