Forex - Dollar up vs. most rivals as risk appetite wanes

Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar rose against most other major currencies on Tuesday, as risk appetite waned amid poor economic reports from Europe and after Greece's prime minister issued a dire warning over his country's debt crisis. 

During European morning trade, the greenback was up against the euro and pound, with EUR/USD shedding 0.33% to hit 1.3589 and GBP/USD plunging 0.74% to hit 1.4954. 

Earlier in the day, Britain's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, an industry group, said its house price balance showed fewer increases in values during February than economists forecast as more people tried to sell their homes. 

Official data on Tuesday also showed that Britain's trade deficit on trade in goods unexpectedly widened on a monthly basis in January. 

Meanwhile, the greenback rose against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF gaining 0.28% to hit 1.0763 after official data showed that Switzerland's consumer price index rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in February, falling short of an expected rise of 0.2%. 

The U.S. dollar also strengthened against its Australian, Canadian and New Zealand counterparts: AUD/USD dropped 0.13% to hit 0.9080, USD/CAD rose 0.2% to hit 1.0291 and NZD/USD fell 0.49% to reach 0.6974. 

But the greenback was down against the yen, with USD/JPY shedding 0.57% to reach 89.8. 

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.27%. 

On Monday, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, said that if the turmoil in Greece “metastasizes” it “could create a new global financial crisis with implications as grave as the U.S.-originated crisis two years ago,” Bloomberg reported.