Forexpros – The U.S. dollar remained modestly lower against its major counterparts on Tuesday, as concerns over sovereign debt loads in the euro zone and the U.S. continued to weigh on risk appetite.
During European afternoon trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.41% to hit 1.3542.
Earlier Tuesday Spain’s Treasury sold EUR2.98 billion in three and six-month bonds in an auction which saw yields rise to 5.2% for the six-month bills, from 3.3% at a similar auction in October.
It was the first Spanish debt auction since the conservative party’s sweeping election victory on Sunday, but investors have remained jittery as plans on how to cut the deficit and restore market confidence have remained unclear.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the pound and the yen, with GBP/USD easing up 0.04% to hit 1.5650 and USD/JPY inching up 0.01% to hit 76.90.
The dollar jumped to a one-week high against the yen before falling back earlier, after remarks by Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi were interpreted by some traders as hinting at more intervention to weaken the yen.
Meanwhile, in the U.K., official data showed that public sector net borrowing fell more-than-expected in October, declining to GBP3.4 billion from GBP10.2 billion the previous month as growth in tax revenue outpaced spending.
The greenback was lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF shedding 0.55% to hit 0.9121.
In Switzerland, a government report showed that the trade surplus widened more-than-expected in October, but the strong franc continued to put pressure on export growth.
Elsewhere, the greenback weakened against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD sliding 0.13% to hit 1.0385, AUD/USD rising 0.22% to hit 0.9864 and NZD/USD adding 0.12% to hit 0.7478.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.21% to hit 78.30.
Later Tuesday, the U.S. was to release preliminary data on third quarter gross domestic product, while the Federal Reserve was to publish the minutes of its November policy meeting.
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