Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against its major rivals on Thursday, as risk aversion eased but concerns over the impact of the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan continued to dominate market sentiment.
During European morning trade, the greenback fell to record lows against the yen, with USD/JPY tumbling 1.07% to hit 78.73.
Japanese authorities said they were stepping up efforts to cool reactors at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 155 miles north east of Tokyo. Army helicopters dropped sea water on the plant, in a desperate attempt to keep spent fuel rods from over-heating and causing further radiation leaks.
The greenback was also trading close to a record low against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF dropping 0.71% to hit 0.9014.
The greenback was also lower against the euro and the pound, with EUR/USD jumping 0.90% to hit 1.4026 and GBP/USD surging 0.82% to hit 1.6157.
Earlier in the day, Spain successfully auctioned the maximum amount of long-term government bonds, at higher yield than in earlier auctions but still below the prevailing yield in secondary markets.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against its Canadian and Australian counterparts but up New Zealand cousin, with USD/CAD shedding 0.26% to hit 0.9887, AUD/USD easing up 0.03% to hit 0.9840 and NZD/USD tumbling 0.91% to hit 0.7215.
Earlier Thursday, New Zealand’s Finance Minister Bill English said the government planned to borrow up to NZD10 billion to rebuild Christchurch, its second-largest city, after a devastating earthquake last month.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, tumbled 0.96%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on initial jobless claims, consumer price inflation and industrial production. In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia was to publish an index of manufacturing activity.
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