Forex - Dollar mixed vs. rivals as China rate impact limited

Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts on Wednesday, after China's interest rate increase on Tuesday had a limited impact on the outlook for global economic growth.

During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.11% to hit 1.364.

Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that Germany's trade surplus rose more-than-expected in December, increasing to EUR14.0 billion, up from EUR11.8 billion in November.

The greenback was also down against the pound, with GBP/USD edging up 0.05% to hit 1.6078.

Earlier in the day, the Confederation of British Industry raised its inflation forecast for 2011 and said it was now more likely that the Bank of England would increase interest rates in the second quarter.

Elsewhere, the greenback was up against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.24% to hit 82.57 and USD/CHF rising 0.08% to hit 0.9639.

In addition, the greenback was down against its Canadian counterpart but up against its Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD slipping 0.05% to hit 0.9945, AUD/USD shedding 0.38% to hit 1.0107 and NZD/USD falling 0.47% to hit 0.7712.

Earlier Wednesday, New Zealand's finance minister said there was a possibility that gross domestic product in the fourth quarter had contracted. This would put the nation back into a technical recession as third quarter GDP contracted 0.2%.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.01%.

Later in the day, the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke was to testify before the Budget Committee in Washington.




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