By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was down on Wednesday morning in Asia, with investors continuing the previous session’s retreat from the safe-haven asset as data released on Tuesday indicated increased U.S. inflation.
The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) posted a 0.6% increase month-on-month, its highest in almost eight years. The figure beat analyst forecasts prepared by Investing.com, which predicted a 0.5% increase as well as May’s 0.1% decrease.
The data eased investor fears of deflationary pressures on the U.S. economy from the COVID-19 economic downturn.
Meanwhile, investors also cheered Tuesday’s report that U.S. biotech firm Moderna 's (NASDAQ:MRNA) experimental COVID-19 vaccine is safe and generated immune responses in all 45 volunteers who are part of the ongoing study.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies fell 0.11% to 96.073 by 9:50 PM ET (2:50 AM GMT).
The USD/JPY pair was up 0.01% to 107.23. The Bank of Japan is due to release its policy statement later in the day, with monetary policies widely expected to remain unchanged.
The USD/CNY pair was down 0.09% to 7.0000. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he has issued the order to end Hong Kong’s preferential trade status. Trump also signed legislation sanctioning Chinese entities involved with enacting the city’s national security laws.
The AUD/USD pair gained 0.49% to 0.7008 and the NZD/USD pair was up 0.32% to 0.6561. The two risk-sensitive Antipodean currencies benefitted from improved investor sentiment.
The GBP/USD pair gained 0.28% to 1.2584.