Forex - Dollar broadly lower as EU developments awaited

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained broadly lower against its major counterparts on Wednesday, as investors awaited developments from an ongoing European Union summit meeting.

During European afternoon trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.17% to hit 1.3931.

Investors were expecting European Union leaders to reach an agreement on a plan to tackle the debt crisis in the euro zone, including measures to recapitalize banks, enhance the region’s bailout fund and restructure Greek debt.

The greenback was slightly higher against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.05% to hit 1.5992.

Earlier in the day, the Confederation of British Industry said factory orders fell at their fastest pace in a year in October, while firms expected output to be hit amid ongoing uncertainty over the debt crisis in the euro zone.

Meanwhile, the greenback was close to an all-time low against the yen and was also down against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY dropping 0.36% to hit 75.81 and USD/CHF shedding 0.27% to hit 0.8755.

Speculation over an intervention in the foreign exchange market by Japan mounted after Japanese finance minister Jun Azumi said earlier that he would not rule out any possible measure to curb the appreciation of the yen and added that he has instructed finance ministry officials to "make preparations so that we can act in response to anything."

Elsewhere, the greenback was down against its Canadian and New Zealand counterparts but was higher against its Australian cousin, with USD/CAD falling 0.51% to hit 1.0116, NZD/USD inching up 0.05% to hit 0.7975 and AUD/USD shedding 0.48% to hit 1.0376.

Official data released earlier showing that Australian core consumer price inflation rose at the slowest pace since 2000 added to speculation over the possibility of a near-term rate cut by the country’s central bank.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.13% to hit 76.31.

The greenback was broadly unchanged after government data showed that orders for long lasting manufactured goods fell more-than-expected in September, declining for the second successive month.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders declined by a seasonally adjusted 0.8%, after falling by an unrevised 0.1% in August, surpassing expectations for a 0.7% decline.

But, core durable goods orders, which excludes transportation items, jumped by a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in September, blowing past expectations for a 0.5% increase.

Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release official data on new home sales and crude oil stockpiles.