NEW YORK: The US dollar dipped on Tuesday on stronger risk appetite as Americans headed to the polls and as investors increased bets that Democrat Joe Biden will win Tuesday's US presidential election and launch a large new stimulus package.
Biden has led in national polls but President Donald Trump is close in enough swing states to piece together the 270 state-by-state Electoral College votes needed to hold the presidency, which he won in a surprise 2016 election result.
The dollar index measuring the greenback against a basket of currencies fell 0.73% to 93.34.
The euro jumped 0.76% to $1.1729, after hitting technical support at $1.1621 on Monday, which was a one-month low.
The dollar fell 0.19% against the yen to 104.51 yen.
The greenback was boosted last week on concerns that the election result may not be clear for days or even weeks due to a large increase in mail-in ballots and on possible legal challenges.
Overnight gauges of volatility for major currency pairs jumped to multi-month highs ahead of the election outcome.
Euro/dollar implied volatility surged to 19%, its highest level since the depths of the market mayhem in March, compared with less than 7% on Monday.
Higher-risk currencies, including the Australian dollar, outperformed, with the Aussie rising 1.66% to $0.7170, even after Australia's central bank trimmed interest rates to near zero and ramped up its bond-buying plans.-Reuters
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