Forex - Dollar gives up early gains on fresh Greece hopes

Forexpros - The U.S. dollar gave up early gains against its major counterparts on Wednesday, as risk appetite sharpened after a senior International Monetary Fund official said talks on a Greek loan program will be concluded in the coming days.

During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.23% to hit 1.3115.

The euro found support after the head of the IMF mission to Athens told a Greek daily newspaper that talks on a fresh bailout for the country will be finalized within a matter of days.

Earlier in the week, Greek officials indicated that separate negotiations with the country’s private creditors were very close to being concluded, but concerns have persisted that the debt swap deal will not go far enough to reduce the country’s debt load.

An agreement is necessary for Greece to secure its next tranche of bailout funds in order to avoid a default when a EUR14.5 billion bond repayment comes due on March 20.

The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD easing up 0.11% to hit 1.5776.

In the U.K., data showed that the manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in eight months in January, as output grew at the fastest rate in 10 months and new orders rose.

The greenback was trading close to a three-month low against the yen, with USD/JPY shedding 0.28% to hit 76.04, fanning concerns over the risk of an intervention by Japanese authorities to curb the appreciation of the yen.

The greenback was also lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF sliding 0.27% to hit 0.9174.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that Swiss retail sales rose less-than-expected in December.

A separate report showed that manufacturing activity in Switzerland unexpectedly deteriorated in January, contracting for the fourth consecutive month.

In addition, the greenback was weaker against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD down 0.30% to hit 0.9993, AUD/USD adding 0.49% to hit 1.0675 and NZD/USD gaining 0.26% to hit 0.8287.

In a speech earlier, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard warned exporters that the high level of the domestic currency was likely to continue in the long term.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.25% to hit 79.23.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report on ADP non-farm payrolls, as well as a report by the Institute for Supply Management on manufacturing sector activity.