Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against its major counterparts on Wednesday, while the euro found support after the March 20 deadline for Greece to avoid a default passed.
During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.32% to hit 1.3265.
On Tuesday, Greece repaid EUR14.5 billion in maturing debt, just one day after receiving the first tranche of aid, under the terms of its second bailout.
While last week’s debt restructuring deal had minimized the risk of a default, relief at the safe passage of the bond redemption buoyed the shared currency.
But the greenback edged higher against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.04% to hit 1.5855.
The pound erased early gains against the greenback after official data showed that U.K. public sector net borrowing increased to a record GBP12.9 billion in February, against expectations for a deficit of GBP5.2 billion.
Meanwhile, the minutes of the Bank of England’s March policy meeting showed that officials were concerned over higher oil prices and wage price inflation.
The greenback was close to an 11-month high against the yen, with USD/JPY advancing 0.23% to hit 83.89 but slipped lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF losing 0.31% to hit 0.9090.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD shedding 0.26% to hit 0.9889, AUD/USD inching up 0.09% to hit 1.0489 and NZD/USD rising 0.21% to hit 0.8188.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier that the country’s fourth quarter current account deficit narrowed to NZD2.76 billion compared with a revised deficit of NZD4.75 billion in the three months to October and was better than forecasts for a deficit of NZD2.83 billion.
The report bolstered expectations that data on fourth quarter growth to be released later this week would also be in line with expectations.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.24% to hit 79.67.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release industry data on existing home sales.
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