Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts on Tuesday, while the safe haven yen and Swiss franc extended sharp gains from the previous session as investors sought shelter from a rout in global equities.
During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD gaining 0.39% to hit 1.4235.
Earlier in the day, government data showed that Germany’s trade surplus narrowed in line with expectations to EUR11.5 billion in June, down from May’s surplus of EUR12.9 billion.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD edging up 0.22% to hit 1.6361.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics said earlier that manufacturing production fell by 0.4% in June, confounding expectations for a 0.2% gain.
A separate report showed that the country’s goods trade deficit widened unexpectedly to GBP8.9 billion in June.
Meanwhile, the greenback posted sharp losses against the safe haven yen and Swiss franc, with USD/JPY slumping 0.88% to hit 77.08 and USD/CHF tumbling 1.66% to hit 0.7425, after falling to a record low of 0.7360 earlier.
The yen approached its highest level versus the greenback since Tokyo’s intervention last week, prompting Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda to say that he was closely watching market movements “with a sense of urgency”.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the risk-sensitive Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, with USD/CAD gaining 0.5% to hit 0.9995, AUD/USD shedding 0.61% to hit 1.0126 and NZD/USD falling 0.74% to hit 0.8145.
A report from China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that consumer price inflation rose by a seasonally adjusted 6.5% in July, the fastest pace in three years.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.28% to hit 74.73.
Global investors remained on edge after the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its sixth-biggest drop on record on Monday, while Asian and European equities plunged dramatically on Tuesday amid mounting worries over the global economic outlook.
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