Forexpros – The U.S. dollar remained broadly higher against its major counterparts on Tuesday, amid growing concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone and following the release of mixed U.S. data on inflation and retail sales.
During European afternoon trade, the dollar was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.72% to hit 1.3534.
Italy’s 10-year bond yields rose to near unsustainable levels, climbing above 7% earlier, while the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds rose above 6% for the first time since the European Central Bank started to buy the country’s bonds in August.
Meanwhile, preliminary data showed that the euro zone economy expanded in line with expectations in the third quarter, expanding 0.2%.
Separately, data showed that the ZEW index of German economic sentiment fell to a three-year low this month.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.33% to hit 1.5858.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that consumer price inflation in the U.K. eased in October, ticking down to 5%, from a three-year high of 5.2% the previous month. Analysts had expected CPI to tick down to 5.1%.
Elsewhere, the greenback dipped against the yen but rallied against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing down 0.09% to hit 76.98, and USD/CHF advancing 0.84% to hit 0.9159.
The greenback was also higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD climbing 0.55% to hit 1.0222, AUD/USD shedding 0.42% to hit 1.0160 and NZD/USD tumbling 1.27% to hit 0.7703.
Earlier Tuesday, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s November policy meeting said the decision to cut interest rates earlier this month reflected a desire for a more neutral monetary policy, but added that there had been a case for keeping borrowing costs unchanged to await the effect of an ongoing mining boom.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.52% to hit 78.04.
The dollar was almost unchanged after the U.S. Commerce Department said retail sales rose more-than-expected in October, increasing 0.5%, while core retail sales also beat expectations, climbing 0.6%.
A separate report showed that producer price inflation in the U.S. eased more-than-expected in October, declining 0.3% compared to expectations for a 0.2% drop.
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