Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts on Wednesday, after Portugal sold the maximum amount of EUR1.25 billion bonds at auction, somewhat easing concerns over the euro zone sovereign debt crisis. During European early afternoon trade, the greenback was slightly higher against the euro, with EUR/USD dipping 0.06% to hit 1.2965. Following the auction, Portugal’s government debt agency said the premium investors demanded to hold Portuguese government bonds fell for the nine year bills but rose slightly for the three year bills. But the greenback was lower against sterling with GBP/USD edging up 0.07% to hit 1.5583. Earlier Wednesday, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that Britain’s goods trade deficit increased to GBP8.7 billion in November, the biggest goods trade deficit since records began in January 1980. Elsewhere, the greenback was up against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.17% to hit 83.39 and USD/CHF edging up 0.01% to hit 0.9736. Earlier in the day, official data showed that Japan's current account surplus shrank for the first time in three months in November while separate data from the Bank of Japan showed lending by banks fell 2.1% in December from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the greenback was down against its Canadian and Australian counterparts but up against its New Zealand cousin, with USD/CAD shedding 0.33% to hit 0.9868, AUD/USD gaining 0.13% to hit 0.9884 and NZD/USD falling 0.5% to hit 0.7566. Earlier, official data showed that Australian home-loan approvals unexpectedly rose in November, reaching the highest level of 2010. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.01%. Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a flurry of data, with reports on import prices and the federal budget balance while the Federal Reserve was to publish its Beige Book.

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