The US dollar fell against most currencies on Wednesday after Federal Reserve meeting minutes released the previous day reinforced expectations of more monetary easing in the United States. The euro had earlier risen above $1.40 but failed again to hold above it. Analysts said the risk of a near-term correction in euro/dollar is building, even though investors continue to sell the dollar on any rallies for now.
In mid afternoon trading, the euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.3966, after having hit as high as $1.4002 on electronic trading platform EBS earlier in the global session. A rally in US stocks also lifted the euro, though it ran into offers ahead of 1.4000, where option hedging has been reported, strategists at Action Economics wrote to clients.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback's performance against a six currency basket, fell 0.4 percent to 77.069, not far from a nine-month low of 76.906 set last week. The dollar also eased to a record low of 0.9546 Swiss francs, according to Reuters data. It fell to 0.9544 on EBS.