Mubasher: The US trade gap in goods increased slightly by 0.5% to $72.8 billion in August, an official initial report released on Thursday.

This came lower than a $72.5 billion deficit seen in July, the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said.

US imports rose by $500 million to $210.6 billion last August, while US exports to the rest of the world totalled $137.8 billion, declining by $200 million.

On a side note, wholesale inventories grew by 0.4% to $681.9 billion, while retail stockpiles recorded no actual change to $667.2 billion.

By 1:23 pm GMT, the US dollar index declined by 0.16% to 98.88, while the EUR/USD pair went up by 0.11% to $1.10955.