Investing.com - The dollar continued to drop and reached a fresh eight-month low against the other major currencies on Wednesday, after the release of disappointing U.S. housing sector data and as U.S. political concerns continued to weigh.
EUR/USD rose 0.32% to a one-year high of 1.1373.
The U.S. National Association of Realtors said pending home sales decreased by 0.8% last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 0.8%.
The greenback had already weakened broadly after U.S. Senate Republicans postponed a vote on the Trump administration’s healthcare bill on Tuesday, as they faced resistance from party members.
Investors are concerned that the administration will not be able to implement tax cuts and fiscal stimulus steps, without first getting the healthcare bill passed.
Meanwhile, the euro pared some earlier gains after the European Central Bank said Wednesday that the market misinterpreted remarks by President Mario Draghi a day earlier.
Speaking at the ECB’s forum on Tuesday, Draghi said factors weighing on inflation in the euro area were mainly temporary, adding that the bank could look through them.
The remarks fueled speculation that the ECB could soon unwind its quantitative easing program.
GBP/USD rallied 1.11% to 1.2957, the highest since June 8, after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney seemed to alter his forward guidance on interest rates.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY slipped 0.14% to 112.17, while USD/CHF held steady at 0.9597.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.42% at 0.7615 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.34% to 0.7293.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD declined 0.81% to trade at 1.3092.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.48% at a fresh eight-month low of 95.72.