Investing.com - The U.S. dollar moved lower against its major counterparts in U.S. trade Friday, as stabilizing developments in Europe and strong gains on Wall Street combined to usher investors away from the safe-haven greenback.
In afternoon U.S. trade, the greenback was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising sharply by 1.15% to hit 1.3765.
Earlier Friday, the Italian Senate approved, by a vote of 156 to 12, to approve the budget-cutting measures promised to the European Union in exchange for assistance in reining in the country’s national debt of USD2.6 trillion.
Yields on Italy’s 10-year bonds fell for the second day after rising to record levels earlier in the week, nearing the 7% threshold that prompted Ireland, Portugal and Greece to seek bailouts.
Passage of the measure was expected to be a precursor to the appointment of former European Union commissioner and economist Mario Monti to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In Athens, Lucas Papademos was sworn in as the country’s new prime minister to replace outgoing Greek leader George Papandreou, adding further stability to a scenario of European debt progress.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the University of Michigan reported Friday that its Consumer Sentiment Index rose more than expected to 64.2 in November, up from 60.9 the previous month. It was the highest reading for the index since June.
The University’s index is based on a survey of approximately 500 consumers and rates the relative level of current and future economic conditions in the U.S. Economists had forecast the index to rise to 60.1 for the period.
In late afternoon U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.33% to 12,170.80, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.20% to 2,682.84, and the S&P 500 gained 2.09% to trade at 1,265.58.
Meanwhile, the greenback was down against the British pound, with GBP/USD adding 0.83% to hit 1.6067.
The dollar was lower against both the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen, with USD/CHF down by 0.57% to hit 0.9010 and USD/JPY falling 0.60% to hit 77.18.
The greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD down 0.57% to hit 1.0112, AUD/USD higher by 1.33% to hit 1.0289, and NZD/USD surging 1.19% to hit 0.7864.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 1.03% at 77.03.
The U.S. National Association of Home Builders was due to release its latest Housing Market Index on Monday.