Mubasher: The US trade gap expanded slightly in March, as demand for foreign goods boosted imports, but the deficit with China fell to the lowest level seen since five years.

The US goods and services deficit with its global trade allies widened by 1.5% to $50 billion in March, compared with a revised $49.3 billion in February, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

However, the deficit shrank by 3.7% or $5.8 billion on a year-to-date basis.

US imports climbed by 1.1% or $2.8 billion month-on-month to $262 billion in March, as crude shipments rose by $1.4 billion.

In addition, exports climbed by $2.1 billion to $212 billion during the month, led by a 39% surge in the exported volumes of soybean.

Despite the trade deficit expanded during March, it remained well below the recent high reached in December when the gap swelled to $59.9 billion, the largest seen in a decade.

The politically sensitive trade deficit with China contracted by $16.2 billion to $20.7 billion, the lowest recorded since March 2014.

By 1:14 pm GMT, the EUR/USD pair edged up by 0.04% to $1.1196.