Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts on Wednesday, as the greenback remained under pressure amid expectations that U.S. interest rates will continue to remain low in the coming months.
During European afternoon trade, the greenback was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD gaining 0.25% to hit 1.4861.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that euro zone retail sales fell sharply in March, pointing to weaker household demand.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.19% to hit 1.6517.
Earlier Wednesday, data showed that construction activity in the U.K. declined significantly more-than-expected in April, while lending to British consumers and homebuyers rose less-than-expected in March.
But the greenback was slightly higher against the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY gaining 0.23% to hit 81.12 and USD/CHF easing up 0.12% to hit 0.8623.
In addition, the greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD inching up 0.08% to hit 0.9533, AUD/USD slipping 0.12% to hit 1.0832 and NZD/USD tumbling 0.93% to hit 0.7910.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.13%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on ADP non-farm payrolls while the U.S. Institute for Supply Management was to publish its non-manufacturing PMI.
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