The dollar sank to a fresh record lows below $1.40 per euro on Thursday, weighed down by a hefty US interest rate cut earlier this week and expectations of more moves to come.
The breach of the psychologically key $1.40 level - heralded as a pain barrier for eurozone exporters - came in early European trade, with the move taking out key stop-loss and option barriers and fuelling a broad-based euro rally. The single European currency also rose above 70 pence for the first time in 1-1/2 years.
Dollar weakness intensified in continued reaction to comments from Saudi Arabia's Central Bank Governor Hamad Saud al-Sayyari who told Reuters on Wednesday that the bank would hold back from matching a US interest rate cut. "The news gives another justification to sell the dollar and it comes at a time of negative dollar sentiment," said Niels Christensen, FX strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen.
The move could herald further weakness as it shows that the dollar's status as a reserve currency is in question, analysts said. "This could lead to lack of confidence on the dollar as its role as a reserve currency is being put into question, which is also supporting the euro."
The US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by 50 basis points last Tuesday to 4.75 percent in a bid to shield the US economy from a deepening housing slump and credit market turbulence. Sterling edged higher versus the dollar after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said that cutting interest rates at first sight of every problem was not the way to go. Investors are now looking to comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke who speaks at 1400 GMT for further clues on the outlook for US monetary policy.
Investors expect more Fed cuts in the months to come while rhetoric from the European Central Bank suggests it could resume raising rates once calm returns to financial markets. By 1133 GMT, the euro had risen to all-time highs of $1.4064, up 0.5 percent on the day. The yen was up 0.7 percent at 115.21 per dollar. The dollar also set 15-year lows against a basket of six major currencies, at 78.791. A move below 78.190 would take the dollar index to record lows. On the flip side, the Australian and New Zealand dollars rallied broadly, as the Fed rate cut calmed risk aversion.
This made investors more willing to return to risky carry trades where purchases of high-yielding Antipodean currencies are funded by cheap borrowing in low-yielders such as the yen. The euro rose as high as 70.06 pence, breaching the key 70 level for the first time since April 2006. On a trade-weighted basis, sterling opened at a fresh one-year low of 101.6.