Mubasher: US consumer confidence improved in late September, when compared with the preceding month, the University of Michigan's finalised reading indicated.

The consumer sentiment index rose to 93.2 points in the second half of September, from the final figure of 89.8 points in August, according to the university’s survey report.

For the third quarter of this year, the index came in at 93.8, which was slightly below the averages for the first half, 2018 and 2017.

That said, “consumers have also expressed rising levels of economic uncertainty,” the University of Michigan director consumer survey Richard Curtin said, pointing unease over the trade policies.

The current economic conditions index climbed by 3% month-on-month to 108.5 points in September, from 105.3 in the preceding month, with a drop of 5.8% from the estimates during the same month last year.

The expectation gauge climbed to 83.4 points last August from 79.9 in the prior month.

By 2:03 pm GMT, the US dollar index ticked up by 0.02% to 99.1480.