Forexpros — The U.S. dollar turned broadly lower against its major counterparts on Wednesday, after the Swiss National Bank cut interest rates to curb the franc’s gains but concerns over the outlook for global growth continued to weigh on sentiment.
During European morning trade, the greenback was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.52% to hit 1.4278.
The outlook for global growth remained downbeat after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. consumer spending dropped in June for the first time in nearly two years and incomes barely rose.
The greenback was also down against the pound, with GBP/USD climbing 0.42% to hit 1.6365.
Earlier in the day, a report showed that U.K. service sector activity rose unexpectedly in July.
Elsewhere, the greenback was steady against the yen but jumped sharply higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing up 0.19% to hit 77.29 and USD/CHF leaping 1.90% to hit 0.7767.
Switzerland’s central bank narrowed its three-month Libor rate to 0.25% from 0.75% earlier, saying the currency was “massively overvalued” adding that it “won’t tolerate” a “tightening of monetary conditions” and therefore was taking measures against the franc.
Meanwhile, investors remained wary of a possible intervention by Japanese officials after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said that the yen’s recent gains posed a threat to Japan’s largely export based economy.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against its Canadian counterpart but held small gains against its Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD sliding 0.23% to hit 0.9589, AUD/USD dipping 0.07% to hit 1.0770 and NZD/USD slipping 0.13% to hit 0.8652.
Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that Australian retail sales declined unexpectedly in June, while the country’s trade surplus contracted more-than-expected.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.25%.
Later in the day, payroll processing firm ADP was publish a report on U.S. non-farm payrolls, while the U.S. Institute of Supply Management was to publish data on service sector growth.
Forexpros
