Early trade in New York: dollar falls sharply

The dollar fell against most major currencies on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank could resort to more monetary stimulus if a sluggish US economy weakens further. That pushed the euro near $1.42, moving it further from the prior session's four-month low beneath $1.39 and on track for its best day since mid-January.
The euro was last at $1.4177, up 1.4 percent, after touching $1.4193 on trading platform EBS. It also rose 1.8 percent against the yen. The high-yielding, commodity-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars rose sharply. The dollar was last at 78.98 yen, up 0.3 percent, not far from its 78.481 four-month low hit on EBS earlier in the global session. The dollar fell to a fresh record trough of 0.81939 Swiss francs.