The euro strengthened Thursday after a survey put the Markit index of Eurozone manufacturers and services at 40.5 in April, up from 38.3 in March.

While any reading below 50 means a contraction, the new data shows that contraction among the manufacturers and services in the region has slowed down from earlier surveys.

The yen was hurt by the news that Swiss Bank Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN; NYSE: CS) made a net profit of SFr 2 billion in the first quarter, twice as much as analysts had anticipated, triggering more interest in risky currency trades financed by the lower-yielding yen.

The US dollar, meanwhile, was damaged by new data from the National Association of Realtors, which showed that existing home sales in the US fell by 3 percent in March.

In late morning trade in New York, the yen traded at ¥127.5316 to the euro and at ¥97.855 to the greenback, while it took .3033 to buy a euro.

The Swiss franc gained on the euro after comments from a Swiss National Bank official which implied that the central bank is willing to wait and see what effect its previous interventions in the currency will have on the Swiss economy before it intervenes again.

The Swiss currency traded at SFr 1.511 to the euro at just before 11:30 a.m. in New York while it was at SFr 1.1594 to the US dollar.

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The pound weakened Wednesday after Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistar Darling told Parliament that the UK economy will contract by 3.5 percent this year.

Mr. Darling also told Parliament that the Debt Management Office will raise £220 billion through the sale of gilts by March of next year.

Also hurting the UK currency was a report from the Office for National Statistics which said that 177,000 more people were unemployed in the UK in the three months ending in February, bringing the total number of individuals unemployed there to 2.1 million.

It was also reported that the UK’s deficit was up to £90 billion (7 billion) in the year ending in March.

At nearly 10:30 a.m. in New York, the pound traded at 89.62p to the euro while it took .4539 to buy a pound.

The yen strengthened after a government report said that Japan’s exports dropped by 45.6 percent in March compared to the same month last year, after having dropped 49.4 percent in February, as the slight comeback was taken to be a sign that the recession is moderating.

Some of the gains were lost by morning trade in New York however, as the yen traded at ¥127.9805 to the euro and at ¥98.225 to the US dollar.

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The euro strengthened Tuesday after a new ZEW survey showed that German investor confidence returned to positive territory in April, coming in at 13, up from minus 3.5 in March.

The pound was also up after positive reports on sales and revenues from the UK retail sector as food retailer Tesco (LSE: TSCO) said that sales in stores open for a year or more are up 3.4 percent since the end of February and luxury clothing retailer Burberry (LSE: BRBY) said that its revenues were up more than had been expected.

Meanwhile, the yen weakened in anticipation of a report due tomorrow which could show that Japan ran a trade deficit of ¥27 billion (5 million) in March, while the Canadian dollar declined after the Bank of Canada cut interest rates there to 0.25 percent and said that the Canadian economy will contract by 3 percent this year.

At just past 11 a.m. in New York, the yen traded at ¥127.3345 to the euro, at ¥143.9248 to the pound and at ¥98.315 to the US dollar.

The pound was at 88.47p to the euro at the same time, while it took .4639 to buy a pound and .2952 to buy a euro.

The Canadian dollar traded at C.243 to the greenback in late morning trade in New York.

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The euro was weaker Monday on perceived disagreements among officials of the European Central Bank concerning how low Eurozone interest rates might fall.

Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were lower as investors looked to the US dollar and the yen as safe investments, at least partly on concerns surrounding the apparent disagreement among ECB officials.

It cost .2922 to buy a euro in late morning trade in New York, while the shared currency was worth ¥127.0707.

The yen appreciated to ¥98.34 to the greenback at the same time.

In addition to concerns that the problems among ECB officials could further hurt the global economy, the Australian and New Zealand currencies were also hurt by declines in equities markets that were at least partly a result of worries that US banks could suffer more losses in the short term.

Also, the Aussie declined on a report that producer prices in Australia dropped 0.4 percent in the first quarter, against expectations that they would go higher.

The Australian dollar traded at 70.34 cents US and it took ¥69.1707 to buy the Aussie at late morning in New York, while the New Zealand dollar traded at ¥54.664 and was worth 55.62 cents US.

The pound weakened after the Confederation of British Industry forecast that the UK economy will shrink by 3.9 percent this year.

Additionally, a report from Rightmove (LSE: RMV) said that UK house prices were down 7.3 percent in the past year, although house prices were up by 1.8 percent in April over the previous month.

The pound traded at 89.91p to the euro in late morning trade in New York while it took .4533 to buy a pound.

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