Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against its major counterparts on Thursday, as risk appetite was boosted after auctions of Spanish and French government debt met with solid investor demand.
During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.36% to hit 1.3494.
Spain’s Treasury auctioned the full targeted amount of EUR3.75 billion of government bonds, while France auctioned as much as EUR4.5 billion of debt, but both countries saw borrowing costs increase.
The auctions were being seen as a major test of investor confidence, coming one day after six major central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank cut the cost of emergency dollar funding for European banks in a coordinated action.
The greenback was slightly lower against the pound, with GBP/USD easing up 0.13% to hit 1.5721.
A report earlier showed that manufacturing activity in the U.K. fell less-than-expected in November, but remained in contraction territory for the second consecutive month.
Elsewhere, the greenback edged higher against the yen but fell against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.13% to hit 77.71, and USD/CHF shedding 0.42% to hit 0.9096.
In Switzerland, official data showed that the economy expanded in line with expectations in the third quarter, with gross domestic product growth of 0.2%, bringing the annualized rate of growth to 1.3%.
A separate report showed that Swiss manufacturing activity contracted more-than-expected in November, dropping for the third consecutive month.
Elsewhere, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said earlier that the government will compile a fourth spending package this fiscal year to help companies cope with the strong yen, but did not provide details on the funding.
Meanwhile, the greenback was broadly stronger against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD inching up 0.07% to hit 1.0183, AUD/USD shedding 0.52% to hit 1.0229 and NZD/USD sliding 0.25% to hit 0.7783.
Earlier in the day, government data showed that retail sales in Australia rose less-than-expected in September, while building approvals dropped unexpectedly in October.
Also Thursday, official data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years as export orders fell sharply.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.17% to hit 78.33.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release its weekly report on initial jobless claims, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on manufacturing activity.
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