Investing.com - The dollar turned lower against other major currencies on Wednesday, after downbeat U.S. existing home sales data and as investors turned their attention to a shooting that took place outside the U.K. Parliament, in London.
The pound hit session lows, with GBP/USD down 0.14% at 1.2462, following a reported shooting outside the British Parliament and reports that at least a dozen people were injured in an incident on Westminster Bridge.
Witnesses inside parliament described seeing a man with a knife and journalist Quentin Letts described seeing a \"parliamentary security men shoot a man who had attacked a policeman\".
Meanwhile, the London Metropolitan Police said officers were called following reports of an incident at Westminster Bridge, near Parliament, in which at least a dozen people were injured. They may have been hit by a car.
EUR/USD was almost unchanged 1.0812, off a fresh six-week high of 1.0825 hit earlier in the day.
The U.S. National Association of Realtors said existing home sales declined 3.7% in February to 5.48 million units from 5.69 million units in the previous month. Analysts had expected a 2.0% decrease to 5.57 million units last month.
The greenback had already weakened after Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Monday that the Fed is on track to raise rates twice more this year, underlining the view that the central bank will stick to a gradual pace of tightening after last week’s rate hike.
Markets were also jittery after G20 financial leaders dropped a pledge to keep global trade free and open during talks this weekend, following opposition from the increasingly protectionist Trump administration.
The move renewed uncertainty over U.S. trade relations and by extension the Trump administration’s concerns over the strong dollar.
Eksewhere, USD/JPY slid 0.49% to trade at 111.16, the lowest since November 24, while USD/CHF declined 0.43% to 0.9894.
The Australian dollar remained weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.17% at 0.7678, while NZD/USD edged up 0.18% to 0.7053.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3352, after rising to a one-week high of 1.3409 earlier in the session.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% at 99.46, just off a six-week trough of 99.37 hit overnight.