By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The recently embattled euro edged a bit higher against the dollar in Asian trading Wednesday, but slipped to a fresh low against the Swiss franc on continuing fears about Europe’s ongoing sovereign-debt woes.
The euro (EURUSD 1.3125, +0.0030, +0.2291%) rose to $1.3134, from $1.3096 in late North American trading on Tuesday. But it slipped to a fresh record low against the Swiss franc (EURCHF 1.2513, -0.0040, -0.3186%) of 1.2533 francs. See real-time currency quotes and tools.
The dollar index (DXY 80.54, -0.18, -0.22%) , which measures the U.S. unit’s performance against a basket of six major currencies, slipped to 80.511, from 80.711 late Tuesday.
The Australian dollar (AUDUSD 0.9978, +0.0021, +0.2109%) slipped to 99.66 U.S. cents, from 99.70 U.S. cents Tuesday.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar (USDYEN 83.6100, -0.1600, -0.1910%) bought ¥83.71, just a few ticks down from ¥83.78 late Tuesday.
“Our quantitative estimate suggests that USD/JPY [U.S. dollar/Japanese yen] has overshot on the topside and, although we are bullish on USD/JPY over the longer term, there is scope for a correction lower,” said currency strategists at Credit Agricole.
The pound (GBPUSD 1.5440, -0.0030, -0.1939%) rose to $1.5480 from $1.5469 late Tuesday, when it slumped after the Office for National Statistics said public-sector borrowing unexpectedly jumped to a record high in November. Read more on U.K. borrowing.
The British pound “has lost ground but its weakness looks temporary. GBP/USD looks cheap around $1.55 and will likely recover ground against both EUR [euro] and USD over the next month,” the Credit Agricole strategists said in a note to clients Wednesday.
Supporting sentiment for the Japanese unit was the trade-data report released by the Ministry of Finance Wednesday. Although export growth in November fell short of forecasts, it still accelerated for the first time in nine months. Read more on Japan trade and export data.
