Forex - Dollar down vs. rivals amid optimism ahead of Greek vote

Investing.com – The U.S. dollar was down against all of its major counterparts on Tuesday, as optimism that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government would survive a confidence vote later in the day boosted demand for riskier assets.

During early U.S. trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.53% to hit 1.4379.

The confidence vote needed to pass in order for Greece’s government to secure support for new austerity measures and qualify for a second tranche of emergency loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, in order to avert a sovereign debt default.

The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD easing up 0.11% to hit 1.6223.

Earlier in the day, Bank of England policymaker Paul Fisher defended the bank’s stance on low interest rates, despite above-target inflation.

Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY slipping 0.14% to hit 80.14 and USD/CHF shedding 0.35% to hit 0.8433.

In addition, the greenback was down against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD tumbling 0.81% to hit 0.9719, AUD/USD rising 0.25% to hit 1.0608 and NZD/USD climbing 0.21% to hit 0.8118.

Statistics Canada said earlier that retail sales rose less-than-expected in April, while core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, were unexpectedly flat as sales of building materials and garden equipment fell sharply amid higher that average rainfall.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.47%.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said existing home sales declined broadly in line with expectations in May, down 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million in May.

Analysts had expected existing home sales to decline to 4.78 million last month, from a downwardly revised 5.0 million in April.