Forexpros – The U.S. dollar added to gains against its major counterparts as renewed euro zone debt worries sent investors into the relative safety of the greenback.
During late session U.S. trade, the dollar was higher against the euro with EUR/USD giving back 0.59% to hit 1.2703.
Fitch Ratings triggered the selling after stating the European Central Bank needs to ramp up its efforts to bail out the euro zone by upping its bond purchases.
Elsewhere, revised data indicating that the euro zone economy grew less than expected in the third quarter of 2011, further depressed the single currency.
The euro displayed nervousness in front of Thursday’s ECB policy meeting despite strong consensus that rates will remain the same.
The greenback was higher against the pound with GBP/USD plunging 1.01% to trade at 1.5327
In the U.K. data indicated that the goods trade deficit expanded more than expected as exports fell increasing to GBP8.6 billion compared to GBP7.9 billion in October.
In addition, the U.S. dollar was stronger against the yen and Swiss franc with USD/JPY advancing 0.03% to hit 76.87 and USD/CHF climbing 0.60% to 0.9550.
Earlier, the Bank of Japan lowered its economic assessment for a second month saying that governments must implement the needed reforms to aid the global economy, wisely adding the yen’s strength will hurt the Japanese economy in the short term.
The greenback also posted gains against its counterparts in Canada and Australia, but lower against the New Zealand dollar, with USD/CAD advancing 0.35% to 1.0190, AUD/USD giving back 0.053% to 1.0308 and NZD/USD gaining 0.17% to 0.7958.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies climbed 0.59% to hit 81.63.
Forexpros
