The euro rose on Wednesday, supported by reports that Italy may be open to reviewing its draft budget for 2019, which could calm a confrontation with the European Union. The European Commission is preparing to take the first step today towards punishing Italy on its draft financial plan.
But a report that Italian Deputy Prime Minister Salveni may be open to reviewing the government's budget for 2019 has helped bolster the Italian government bond markets and the euro today.
Euro was up 0.3% at $1.14. The single currency has risen in six of the last seven sessions. The euro pushed the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six major currencies, down 0.2% to 96.621. The index gained 0.65% in the last session.
The Japanese yen was down 0.15% at 112.86. The pound was up 0.2% at $1.2808 after losing 0.5% against the dollar on Tuesday. Sterling is expected to trade volatile up and down as the market gets more clarity on the progress of the UK separation agreement.
The Canadian dollar fell to its lowest level in four months against the US dollar to trade at 1.3305 Canadian dollars to the dollar as the price of crude oil fell to its lowest level in more than a year. Canada is among the world's largest oil exporters.
The Australian dollar, usually a measure of risk appetite, rose 0.3% to trade at $0.7236. The Australian dollar lost more than 1% on Tuesday as global risk appetite deteriorated.
