Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was down against all of its major counterparts on Wednesday, as investor sentiment strengthened and markets regained equilibrium after Tuesday’s intervention by the Swiss National Bank to rein in the franc.
During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.68% to hit 1.4097.
Earlier in the day, Germany’s constitutional court ruled that the government must get the approval of parliament’s budgetary committee before any future decisions on granting bailout aid.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.31% to hit 1.5995.
Official data released earlier showed that industrial production in the U.K. rose in line with expectations in July.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against both the Swiss franc and the yen, with USD/CHF shedding 0.66% to hit 0.8563 and USD/JPY falling 0.64% to hit 77.15.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.1%, in a widely expected decision and announced no new monetary easing measures.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said he believed the yen was still overvalued, but stopped short of indicating that Japan would follow the SNB’s intervention, saying instead that he was watching market moves, including those by speculators.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD dropping 0.52% to hit 0.9851, AUD/USD rallying 1.30% to hit 1.0621 and NZD/USD surging 0.85% to hit 0.8296.
Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that Australia’s economy grew at the fastest rate in four years in the second quarter.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, tumbled 0.79% to hit 75.47.
Later in the day, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans was to speak. The Fed was also to publish its beige book, which looks at regional economic conditions.
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