Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against its major counterparts on Wednesday, as concerns over the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone and declines in equity markets curbed demand for riskier assets.
During European morning trade, the greenback was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.44% to hit 1.4039.
The single currency was weighed by speculation that Greece may call a snap election after the government failed to reach consensus with the opposition on new austerity measures.
The greenback was also up against the pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.13% to hit 1.6144.
Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that U.K. gross domestic product grew by 0.5% in the first quarter, in line with initial estimates.
Meanwhile, the greenback was higher against the yen but lower against the Swiss franc with USD/JPY rising 0.22% to hit 82.13 and USD/CHF dipping 0.09% to hit 0.8792.
Government data showed earlier that Japan’s exports dropped by 12.5% in April, from a year earlier, pulling the country into the first trade deficit for the month of April in 31 years.
The greenback was up against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD climbing 0.29% to hit 0.9796, AUD/USD tumbling 0.72% to hit 1.0480 and NZD/USD sliding 0.31% to hit 0.7936.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.34%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on durable goods orders as well as a government report on crude oil stockpiles.
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