Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was higher against its major counterparts on Tuesday, as S&P’s downgrade warning on 15 euro zone nations added to concerns over the handling of the region’s debt crisis.
During European morning trade, the dollar was up against the euro, with EUR/USD declining 0.28% to hit 1.3364.
S&P said it may carry out a mass credit downgrade of euro zone countries if their leaders fail to move decisively on solving the region’s debt woes at Friday’s key European Union summit.
The warning came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy outlined proposals aimed at halting the region’s debt crisis which will be discussed at Friday’s summit.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD retreating 0.13% to hit 1.5628.
Earlier in the day, data showed that house prices in the U.K. declined more-than-expected in November.
The Halifax Bank of Scotland said its house price index fell by 0.9% in November, after a 1.2% rise the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to decline 0.1% in November.
Elsewhere, the greenback was fractionally lower against the yen but higher the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing down 0.07% to hit 77.76, and USD/CHF rising 0.73% to hit 0.9274.
In Switzerland, a report showed that consumer price inflation declined unexpectedly in November, easing for the second consecutive month.
The Swiss Federal Statistics Office said consumer price inflation dipped by 0.2% after easing by 0.1% in October. Analysts had expected Swiss consumer prices to rise by 0.1% in November.
The greenback was also higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD advancing 0.25% to hit 1.0188, AUD/USD dropping 0.83% to hit 1.0186 and NZD/USD retreating 0.66% to hit 0.7751.
Earlier Tuesday, the RBA cut its interest rate for the second successive month from 4.50% to 4.25%.
Commenting on the decision, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said that fiscal conditions have been more difficult, particularly in the euro zone and this was likely to weigh on global growth.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.17% to hit 78.84.
Later in the day, the euro zone was to produce revised data on gross domestic product, while Germany was to publish official data on factory orders.
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