Investing.com - The dollar was almost unchanged against a basket of other major currencies on Wednesday, following Tuesday's steep selloff sparked by fears over risk from political instability in Greece and new restrictions on China’s debt markets
EUR/USD held steady at 1.2379, as investors remained cautious following a surprise decision by the Greek government to bring forward a parliamentary vote for president to next week from February.
Markets were spooked by the risk of snap elections which could take place if Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ candidate is not approved by parliament, which could see the anti-bailout Syriza party take power.
The decision prompted the stock market in Athens to plummet 9.5% on Tuesday, the largest one day decline in over 20 years.
The Greek stock market suffered fresh falls on Wednesday and the yield on Greece’s 10-year bond rose to 8.55% from 8.12% late Tuesday.
But the dollar still remained supported after last week’s strong U.S. jobs report for November prompted investors to bring forward expectations for the first hike in interest rates to mid-2015 from September 2015.
USD/JPY slid 0.32% to 119.29, holding above Tuesday’s lows of 117.92, while USD/CHF was almost unchanged at 0.9712.
The pound was also steady, with GBP/USD at 1.5678.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said the country's goods trade deficit narrowed to £9.62 billion in October from £10.51 billion the previous month. Economists had expected the goods trade deficit to narrow to £9.53 billion in October.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, both off multi-year lows, with AUD/USD rising 0.49% to 0.8335 and NZD/USD up 0.46% to trade at 0.7713.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged up 0.13% to 1.1459.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was steady at 88.69, not far from Monday's five-year high of 89.53.