Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was higher against most of its major counterparts on Wednesday, as concerns over the impact of the debt crisis in the euro zone weighed on demand for higher yielding assets.
During European morning trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.31% to hit 1.3308.
Concerns over funding issues in the euro zone remained in focus after Moody’s cut Italy’s sovereign rating by three notches to A2 from Aa2, with a negative outlook.
Elsewhere, a report in the Financial Times said that European Union finance ministers were looking at a bank recapitalization plan after agreeing that additional measures are needed support European lenders.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.19% to hit 1.5458.
Earlier Wednesday, a report showed that growth in the U.K. service sector unexpectedly increased in September, dampening expectations that the Bank of England may launch fresh easing measures to shore up the economy.
A separate report showed that U.K. second quarter growth was unexpectedly revised down to 0.1%. Analysts had expected second quarter gross domestic product to remain unchanged at 0.2%.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the yen but was higher against the Swiss franc with USD/JPY slipping 0.14% to hit 76.69 and USD/CHF climbing 0.41% to hit 0.9202.
Meanwhile, the greenback was up against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD adding 0.24% to hit 1.0538, AUD/USD sliding 0.15% to hit 0.9656 and NZD/USD losing 0.18% to hit 0.7587.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that Australian retail sales rose more-than-expected in August, as spending on household goods and dining out increased.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.31% to hit 79.69.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report on ADP non-farm payrolls, while the ISM was to produce a report on service sector activity.
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