The dollar and the Swiss franc weakened against most of their major peers monitored by Bloomberg as Asian stocks rose and Treasuries declined amid renewed demand for assets perceived to be higher risk. The U.S. currency slid against the Australian and New Zealand dollars as China’s economic growth exceeded analysts’ estimates and minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting showed some policy makers felt additional U.S. stimulus may be needed. The euro snapped a run of three straight declines versus the dollar as Italian and Spanish bonds rose for a second day. The yen weakened amid speculation Japan will sell its currency to support exporters. “We saw broadly better-than-expected Chinese data and that has give the market a little bit of comfort,” said Sara Yates, a foreign exchange strategist in London at Barclays Plc. “For the U.S., interest-rate hikes are a long way into the future. We still look for the euro to grind higher but there are still significant risks.” The dollar weakened 0.5 percent against the euro to $1.4047 as of 9:12 a.m. in London, after reaching $1.3837 yesterday, the strongest since March 11. The Swiss franc also slid 0.5 percent, to 1.1659 per euro. The yen dropped 0.6 percent to 111.35 per euro. Japan’s currency was little changed at 79.26 per dollar, after gaining 2.5 percent in the previous three days. It rose to 78.50 earlier today, the strongest since policy makers jointly intervened in foreign-exchange markets in March. Australia’s dollar strengthened 0.7 percent to $1.0675, and gained 0.8 percent to 84.62 yen. The New Zealand currency advanced 0.9 percent to 82.53 U.S. cents. To contact the reporters on this story: Monami Yui in Tokyo at myui1@bloomberg.net; Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net.

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