Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against most of its major counterparts on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious amid sustained speculation that the European Central Bank will take further steps to counter the effects of the euro zone’s debt crisis.
During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD falling 0.24% to 1.2369.
Markets eyed the ECB amid expectations the bank will soon take steps to help lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs, after bank head Mario Draghi indicated last week that the ECB may restart its bond buying program.
The ECB said action would be conditional on euro zone governments experiencing difficulty on bond markets activating the bloc’s bailout funds to purchase government bonds and accepting strict conditions and supervision.
Meanwhile, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s revised Greece’s credit rating outlook from stable to negative on Tuesday, saying that a worsening economy raises the likelihood the troubled nation will need more support from European Union lenders.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD edging down 0.19% to 1.5591.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY retreating 0.32% to hit 78.35, but higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.23% to trade at 0.9708.
Earlier in the day, government data showed that Japan’s current account rose more-than-expected in June, climbing to JPY0.77 trillion from JPY0.28 trillion the previous month.
In Switzerland, government data showed that an index of consumer climate dropped to minus 17 in the second quarter, from a reading of minus 8, disappointing expectations for an improvement to minus 4.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD inching down 0.01% to 0.9968, AUD/USD edging up 0.01% to 1.0553 and NZD/USD falling 0.34% to trade at 0.8134.
Official data showed that home loans in Australia rose less-than-expected in June, ticking up 1.3% after a 0.9% decline the previous month.
Analysts had expected home loans to rise 2.1% in June.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.11% to 82.39.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release preliminary data on nonfarm productivity, followed by a government report on crude oil inventories.
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