Mubasher: US business inventories rose by 0.4% during July at $2.042 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, official figures showed on Friday.

This came after inventories recorded no actual change in June, according to the revised estimates by the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau.

On an annualised basis, business inventories rose by 1.3% last July, the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said.

The collective value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments increased by 0.3% to $1.462 trillion.

The ratio of total inventories to sales in July was 1.40, stabilising from the upwardly revised 1.40 in the preceding month, while it came well above the ratio of 1.35 in the same month last year.

By 2:06 pm GMT, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback against six major peers, inched down by 0.05% to 98.25.