Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against its major rivals on Wednesday, as political uncertainty in Portugal hit sentiment towards the euro and after the minutes of the last Bank of England’s policy meeting dampened expectations for a rate hike. During European afternoon trade, the greenback was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.57% to hit 1.4116. The fate of Portugal’s government was hanging in the balance on Wednesday, after the Prime Minister threatened to resign if a vote on fresh austerity measures failed to pass. The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD tumbling 0.83% to hit 1.6228. Earlier in the day, the minutes of the Bank of England’s most recent policy setting meeting showed the bank saw “merit in waiting” to examine the effect of higher oil prices, dampening speculation over an interest rate hike by the bank in the coming months. Meanwhile, the greenback was slightly higher against the yen but down against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing up 0.06% to hit 81.02 and USD/CHF dipping 0.03% to hit 0.9030. Elsewhere, the greenback was up against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD rising 0.18% to hit 0.9828, AUD/USD slipping 0.14% to hit 1.0087 and NZD/USD edging down 0.11% to hit 0.7393. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.50%. Also Wednesday, a government report estimated the damage from Japan’s March 11 record earthquake and tsunami at as much as JPY25 trillion, or USD309 billion.

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