By Cornelius Luca
New York, May 23 (BridgeNews) - The euro stumbled further across the board, sinking to a fresh six-month low of 85.66 cents on unfurling bearish momentum fueled by weak euro-zone economic statistics. The dollar buckled versus the yen to an 18-day low of 120.75, snapping the support of a trendline, as the Japanese currency benefited from the sales of European currencies. The greenback is likely to extend its straddled performance in the U.S. session.
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Dollar/Swiss franc rose for the fifth consecutive session to mark a six-month high of 1.7820, while sterling/dollar fell to a one-week low on residual profit taking and under the weight of euro/dollar sales after peaking Monday at a 17-day high of 1.4414. Dollar/Canada rose to a six-day high of 1.5448.
Traders didn't bat an eye following news that the European Central Bank (ECB) has left its minimum refinancing rate at 4.5%, as expected. Following the avalanche of Fed officials' comments over the past two days, Wednesday's domestic event agenda only includes speeches by U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

Current Previous Change Global Global
NY open NY close low high

USD/JPY 121.21 122.78 -1.57 120.75 122.94
EUR/USD 0.8582 0.8649 -0.0067 0.8566 0.8670
EUR/JPY 104.02 106.20 -2.18 103.63 106.37
GBP/USD 1.4222 1.4270 -0.0048 1.4195 1.4289
USD/CHF 1.7785 1.7680 0.0105 1.7655 1.7820
USD/CAD 1.5424 1.5398 0.0026 1.5402 1.5448
AUD/USD 0.5176 0.5233 -0.0057 0.5175 0.5234
NZD/USD 0.4220 0.4234 -0.0014 0.4210 0.4245
SP.1 1309.50 -3.30 1308.10 1313.40
ND.1 2036.00 -10.50 2025.00 2060.00