Investing.com - The dollar weakened in U.S. afternoon trading on Wednesday after the U.S. put on hold plans to hit Syria with military strikes for its alleged use of chemical weapons in its civil war.
In U.S. trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD was up 0.34% at 1.3312.
The greenback slumped after U.S. President Barack Obama said his administration would support a Russian plan to take away Syria's chemical weapons cache in a deal that would put U.S. military strikes on hold.
Waning fears of a new military campaign in the Middle East enticed investors out of the safe-haven dollar and into higher-yielding asset classes.
The dollar also came under pressure amid ongoing doubts as to whether or not the Federal Reserve will announce at its Sept. 17-18 policy meeting plans to begin tapering its monthly USD85 billion asset-purchasing program, which weakens the greenback to spur recovery.
Lackluster economic indicators have many investors concerned the U.S. central bank may delay plans to begin scaling back asset purchases to later this year, while others feel any September start date will see very minor tapering, which would keep the greenback soft.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.58% at 1.5824.
The pound firmed after official data revealed that the U.K. unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in the three months to July from 7.8% in the previous three months.
Analysts were expecting the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
The number of individuals claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. fell by 32,600 in August, better than market calls for a decline of 22,000 people.
The data stoked already growing expectations that the Bank of England may raise interest rates sooner than it has indicated.
Last month, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said monetary authorities plan to keep the U.K.'s benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.5% for at least three years though improving economic indicators have many betting that rates may rise sooner than expected.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.53% at 99.86, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF trading down 0.53% at 0.9299.
The dollar was down against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.31% at 1.0316, AUD/USD up 0.16% at 0.9328 and NZD/USD trading up 0.19% at 0.8084.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.38% at 81.50.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims as well as official data on import prices.
In U.S. trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD was up 0.34% at 1.3312.
The greenback slumped after U.S. President Barack Obama said his administration would support a Russian plan to take away Syria's chemical weapons cache in a deal that would put U.S. military strikes on hold.
Waning fears of a new military campaign in the Middle East enticed investors out of the safe-haven dollar and into higher-yielding asset classes.
The dollar also came under pressure amid ongoing doubts as to whether or not the Federal Reserve will announce at its Sept. 17-18 policy meeting plans to begin tapering its monthly USD85 billion asset-purchasing program, which weakens the greenback to spur recovery.
Lackluster economic indicators have many investors concerned the U.S. central bank may delay plans to begin scaling back asset purchases to later this year, while others feel any September start date will see very minor tapering, which would keep the greenback soft.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.58% at 1.5824.
The pound firmed after official data revealed that the U.K. unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in the three months to July from 7.8% in the previous three months.
Analysts were expecting the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
The number of individuals claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. fell by 32,600 in August, better than market calls for a decline of 22,000 people.
The data stoked already growing expectations that the Bank of England may raise interest rates sooner than it has indicated.
Last month, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said monetary authorities plan to keep the U.K.'s benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.5% for at least three years though improving economic indicators have many betting that rates may rise sooner than expected.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.53% at 99.86, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF trading down 0.53% at 0.9299.
The dollar was down against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.31% at 1.0316, AUD/USD up 0.16% at 0.9328 and NZD/USD trading up 0.19% at 0.8084.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.38% at 81.50.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims as well as official data on import prices.