NEW YORK: The dollar slipped for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, sliding to a more than one-week low, as positive vaccine news offset the surge in coronavirus cases and tighter economic restrictions across the United States and Europe.

In mid-morning trading, the dollar index slipped 0.1% to 92.298, after dropping as low as 92.207, its lowest level since Nov. 9.

Bitcoin, sometimes regarded as a safe haven, or at least a hedge against inflation, rose to more than $18,000 for the first time in nearly three years. It last stood around $17,594, down 0.4%.

The euro was slightly up on the day at $1.1869 rising, despite Poland and Hungary blocking the European Union’s 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.14 trillion) financial package to revive an economy depressed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sterling, meanwhile, rose 0.3% versus the dollar to $1.3297 in the wake of a report from the Sun newspaper that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was told by British negotiators to expect a Brussels trade deal early next week, with “a possible landing zone” as soon as next Tuesday.

The dollar though fell 0.3% against the yen to 103.865, with the Japanese currency recouping much of the losses it suffered last week after Pfizer announced it had developed a working Covid-19 vaccine.

China’s offshore yuan surged to its highest in more than two years against the dollar on Wednesday. The greenback though recovered to trade 0.2% higher at 6.5619 amid dollar-buying by major state-owned banks in what some traders suspected was an effort to slow the Chinese currency’s advance towards 6.5-per dollar.—Reuters