Dollar Drops A Touch From 2-Year Highs In Asia

The U.S. dollar faded a bit in Asian trading hours on Wednesday, after hitting a two-year high in the previous session on intensified concerns about Europe’s troubles.

The ICE dollar index DXY -0.15% fell to 83.954, from 84.009 in late North American trading Tuesday, when it reached a two-year high after a report that Greece will require additional debt restructuring.

“Much of the damage to risk proxies had occurred in yesterday’s London session, but risk appetite has struggled to find much in the way of a meaningful lift,” said Sue Trinh, strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

“A minor bounce did come on the back of a Wall Street Journal article by U.S. Federal Reserve watcher Jon] Hilsenrath, although from our perspective he did not say anything that differed too much from current market thinking and reinforced the case that September is the more likely timing for QE3 than August,” she added.

QE3 refers to a prospective third round of the Fed’s quantitative easing program.

The euro EURUSD +0.44% traded at $1.2077, compared to $1.2066.

Ahead of U.K. second-quarter gross domestic product data. The British pound GBPUSD +0.24% traded flat at $1.5510.

The dollar continued to fall against the Japanese yen, buying 78.17 yen USDJPY -0.01%USDJPY -0.01%USDJPY -0.01% on Wednesday, compared to ¥78.19.

“The jawboning has stepped up a touch as dollar/yen tests multi-month lows. The Bank of Japan’s Yamaguchi said that the BoJ will not hesitate to ease further if economic risks heighten sharply,“ said Trinh.

The Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.43%AUDUSD +0.43% reached $1.0234 from $1.0231 after quarterly consumer price data came in largely in line with expectations.

Marketwatch