Dollar falls on deficit news

The dollar fell half a cent to 65.73USc after the release of the trade data yesterday.

HSBC treasurer Peter Adams said last month's trade deficit was more than double the $400 million the market was expecting.

"That caused the currency to fall," he said. "It dropped quite quickly."

The larger-than-expected deficit implied that the current account deficit would widen to around 9 per cent of gross domestic product product from 8.5 per cent when it was last measured and this worried the currency markets.

The dollar recovered slightly and closed at 65.92USc, below the day's high of 66.30USc.