Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against its major rivals on Monday, after the Bank of Japan took unprecedented steps to boost market liquidity following Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.

During European morning trade, the greenback was up against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.09% to hit 81.92.

The BoJ announced earlier that it was pumping a record JPY15 trillion into the financial system and doubling the size of its asset-purchase program to JPY10 trillion to bolster confidence in the economy, in the wake of a massive earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear emergency.

But the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.39% to hit 1.3955.

The greenback was also down against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD easing up 0.11% to hit 1.6097 and USD/CHF slipping 0.17% to hit 0.9282.

Elsewhere, the greenback was down against its Canadian counterpart but up against its Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD sliding 0.13% to hit 0.9719, AUD/USD falling 0.49% to hit 1.0086 and NZD/USD shedding 0.61% to hit 0.7380.

Earlier Monday Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry said a hydrogen explosion had occurred at reactor three in the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, north of Tokyo, two days after an explosion hit reactor one.

However, officials said the reactor core was still intact and that radiation levels were below legal limits.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.17%.

Also Monday, Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the situation at the nuclear plant was alarming, and the earthquake had thrown Japan into “the most severe crisis since World War II”.

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