Forexpros – The U.S. dollar remained broadly lower against its major counterparts on Tuesday, ahead of the outcome of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers and after stronger-than-expected U.S. consumer confidence data.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was down against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.13% to hit 1.3337.
The euro came under pressure after the European Central Bank failed to attract enough deposits from banks to neutralize its purchases of bonds from debt-ridden euro zone countries.
Earlier Tuesday, Italy auctioned the maximum targeted amount of EUR7.5 billion of debt but borrowing costs surged to euro-era highs. The yield on the three-year bond was a record 7.89% and 10-year yields climbed to 7.56% from 6.06% at a similar auction last month.
Meanwhile, euro zone finance ministers were meeting in Brussels and Italy’s near unsustainable borrowing costs looked likely to be on the agenda.
In addition, the ministers were expected to approve plans to enlarge the scope of the region’s bailout fund and to sign off on Greece’s next tranche of financial aid.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD advancing 0.70% to hit 1.5623.
The pound held gains after U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the economy was now expected to grow 0.7% in 2012, down from a March budget forecast of 2.5% growth.
Osborne also said borrowing will fall much less-than-expected, meaning that harsh austerity measures will last beyond 2015.
Elsewhere, the greenback weakened against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY slipping 0.14% to hit 77.85 and USD/CHF losing 0.08% to hit 0.9214.
Earlier in the day, Japan’s finance minister pledged to achieve “more appropriate” yen levels, signaling that sharp rises in the currency will trigger additional monetary stimulus as slowing global growth clouds the outlook for the export-dependent economy.
The greenback was sharply lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD dropping 0.48% to hit 1.0290, AUD/USD jumping 1.23% to hit 1.0027 and NZD/USD surging 1.01% to hit 0.7627.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.36% to hit 79.11.
In the U.S., the Conference Board said consumer confidence soared in November, rising to the highest level since July, but overall readings remained historically weak.
A separate report showed that U.S. house prices fell for the 15th consecutive month in September, falling at an annualized rate of 3.6%, outstripping expectations for a 3% decline.