Dollar rises on Greek referendum, slower U.S. manufacturing

The U.S. dollar rose against major currencies in late New York trading on Tuesday as the Greek government said it would hold a referendum on the proposed bailout and the U.S. manufacturing activities slowed in October. The Greek government announced Monday it would hold a referendum on the latest bailout. Prime Minister George Papandreou' s government will also face a confidence vote later this week. The news raised investors' concerns about the eurozone debt crisis and weighed on the euro. The shared currency lost 1.13 percent against the dollar on Tuesday. Meanwhile, economic data showed that U.S. manufacturing activities slowed in October. The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index dropped to 50.8 percent last month from 51.6 percent in September. The dollar index gained 1.42 percent to 77.25 on Tuesday, lifted by risk-aversion appetite as stock markets tumbled. The Britain's Office for National Statistics reported Tuesday in a preliminary estimate that the country's gross domestic product grew by 0.5 percent in the third quarter, slightly stronger than forecasts for 0.4-percent growth. The British pound lost 0.76 percent against the dollar. The Japanese yen remained flat against the dollar on Tuesday after Japanese central bank's surprising intervention to weaken the yen on Monday. In late Tuesday trading, the dollar bought 78.33 Japanese yen, comparing with 78.05 from late Monday. The euro fell to 1.3715 dollars from 1.3924. The British pound also fell to 1.5962 dollars from 1.6129. The dollar rose from 0.8736 Swiss francs to 0.8863, and also rose to 1. 0168 Canadian dollars from 0.9941.