Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was sharply lower against most of its major counterparts on Wednesday, as a broad risk rally lifted higher yielding currencies and hammered the greenback.
During European early afternoon trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD rallying 1.33% to hit 1.4524.
The euro was boosted after a Spanish bond auction saw strong investor demand, although yields were higher.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.42% to hit 1.6382.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of England’s April policy meeting minutes showed that policymakers maintained their 6-3 split in favor of keeping rates on hold.
Elsewhere, the greenback was up against the yen but down against the Swiss franc with USD/JPY easing up 0.14% to hit 82.70 and USD/CHF dropping 0.97% to hit 0.8909.
Earlier Wednesday, a government report showed that Japan recorded a smaller-than-expected trade surplus in March and exports fell more than expected year-on-year, due to disruptions from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Meanwhile, the greenback was significantly lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD shedding 0.54% to hit 0.9507, AUD/USD jumping 1.36% to hit a record high of 1.0669 and NZD/USD leaping 1.32% to hit 0.7990.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that Australian export prices rose faster than import prices in the first quarter, fuelling expectations for rate increases by the country’s central bank this year.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, tumbled 0.96% to hit a 16-month low.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to publish industry data on existing home sales.
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