FX:Forex - Dollar lower vs. most rivals as sentiment improves
Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was lower against most of its major counterparts on Thursday, as risk sentiment improved after France’s top-tier credit rating was affirmed by the major rating agencies.
During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.4% to hit 1.4235.
Concerns over the health of major French lenders, particularly Societe Generale, as well as rumors of an imminent French sovereign debt downgrade rattled investors’ confidence on Wednesday, leading to sharp losses in Europe and on Wall Street.
Rating agencies Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch’s later reaffirmed France's top-tier AAA credit rating and said its outlook was stable.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD edging 0.12% higher to hit 1.6155.
Later in the day, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was to address parliament, following the recent turmoil in financial markets and the Bank of England's downgrade of its U.K. growth forecast on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the greenback was down against the yen, with USD/JPY slumping 0.42% to hit 76.53, hovering close to a four-month low.
The greenback spiked higher against the yen earlier before falling back, sparking speculation that the Bank of Japan stepped in to curb the yen’s recent sharp gains.
However, an official from the country’s Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the sudden movement in the pair and whether the government was intervening in the market.
Elsewhere, the greenback was sharply higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF surging 1.67% to hit 0.7387 after Swiss National Bank Deputy President Thomas Jordan said that the SNB could peg the franc for the first time in more than three decades to stem recent gains.
But the greenback was lower against the risk-sensitive Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, with USD/CAD falling 0.58% to hit 0.9892, AUD/USD jumping 0.87% to hit 1.0266 and NZD/USD gaining 0.94% to hit 0.8188.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.28% to hit 74.64.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on its trade balance, as well as a government report on initial jobless claims and natural gas stockpiles.
