Mubasher: US business inventories expanded 0.3% in February to $2.017 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Thursday.

On an annualised basis, business inventories climbed 4.9% last February.

The collective value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments edged up 0.1% to $1.446 trillion.

The ratio of overall inventories to sales in February was 1.39, unchanged from the prior month, while it came higher than the ratio of 1.36 in the same month of the prior year.

By 2:11 pm GMT, the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.31% to 97.3100.