Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts in Asian trade Tuesday, following the downgrade of Italy’s debt rating, raising new concerns that Europe’s debt problems may be worsening.
In mid-day Asian trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.59% to hit 1.3604.
Late Monday, Standard & Poor’s reduced Italy’s sovereign credit rating from A plus to A saying, “The downgrade reflects our view of Italy’s weakening economic growth prospects and our view that Italy’s fragile governing coalition and policy differences within parliament will likely continue to limit the government’s ability to respond decisively to the challenging domestic and external macroeconomic environment.”
The credit downgrade came as European finance officials discussed details of a second batch of rescue funds for Greece to stave off an imminent default.
Wall Street shares snapped a five-day winning streak in Monday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 0.94%, the Nasdaq Composite Index surrendered 0.36%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.98%.
Meanwhile, the greenback was higher against the British pound, with GBP/USD down by 0.25% to hit 1.5666.
The dollar was lower against the Japanese yen but up against the Swiss franc with USD/JPY dipping 0.11% to hit 76.50, and USD/CHF up by 0.50% to hit 0.8864.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD up 0.19% to hit 0.9926, AUD/USD lower by 0.36% to hit 1.0183, and NZD/USD falling 0.78% to hit 0.8184.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.44% at 77.91.
Markets were expected to focus on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting beginning Wednesday.