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Forex - Dollar higher vs. rivals as Spanish, Italian yields surge

Published 07/18/2011, 07:43 AM
Updated 07/18/2011, 07:43 AM
Investing.com – The U.S. dollar advanced against most of its major counterparts on Monday, while the euro came under broad selling pressure after Spanish and Italian bond yields surged to fresh euro-lifetime highs, adding to fears over the region’s debt crisis.

During European morning trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD dropping 0.79% to hit a three-day low of 1.4042.

Spanish government bond yields rose to a euro-lifetime high of 6.31%, approaching the 7% mark that prompted peripheral euro zone nations, Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek bailouts.

Yields on Italian bonds also climbed to a record high of 6.02%, while yields on two-year Greek debt soared to a euro-era record of 34.37%.

The greenback was also up against the pound, with GBP/USD slumping 0.4% to hit 1.6072.

Industry data released earlier showed that U.K. house prices fell 1.6% in July, the first decline this year. Home prices rose 0.6% in June.

Elsewhere, the greenback edged lower against the yen but was up against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing down 0.07% to hit 79.07 and USD/CHF advancing 0.27% to hit 0.8176.

Meanwhile, the greenback was up against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD climbing 0.58% to hit 0.9594, AUD/USD declining 0.41% to hit 1.0609 and NZD/USD dipping 0.22% to hit 0.8438.

Earlier in the day, Statistics New Zealand said in a report that consumer price inflation rose 1.0% in the second quarter of 2011, above expectations for a 0.8% gain.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.71% to trade at a four-day high of 75.94.

U.S. President Barack Obama said over the weekend that the U.S. government was “running out of time” in regards to negotiations over lifting the country’s USD14.3 trillion debt ceiling before an August 2 deadline.

Ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s both warned last week that a failure to raise the debt limit in time would result in a downgrade in the credit rating of the world’s largest economy.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a government report on the balance of domestic and foreign investments.

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