Dollar slips against euro, yen
The greenback loses some of its safe-haven flow amid strength in world stock markets.
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| Click on the chart to see other currency prices. |
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The dollar fell against the euro and yen Wednesday on strength in global stock markets.
The euro was trading at $1.3001, up 0.4% from $1.2949 late Tuesday. The dollar eased to ¥97.95, down 0.8% from ¥98.73.
The dollar and the yen are considered safe havens for investor funds in times of economic uncertainty, and have been benefiting from concern over the health of the global economy.
Global markets were mostly higher Wednesday. The major European stock indexes ended with gains of 1% to 2%, and Tokyo's Nikkei index finished up 0.2%.
U.S. stock indexes churned Wednesday, with a rally struggling to gain traction, as investors weighed continued turmoil in the financial sector with a modest uptick in U.S. home prices in February.
By the end of the day, however, Wall Street ended mostly lower, with only the tech-heavy Nasdaq managing slight gains.
Treasurys are another safe-haven for investor funds in times of market uncertainty, and government debt prices were lower Wednesday.
The struggling U.S. financial sector continued to weigh on dollar sentiment. Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) reported a much bigger-than-anticipated loss in the first quarter, as the firm was hard hit by the struggling commercial real estate market and revenue at the equity sales and trading business fell 74%.
A report showed home prices were holding steady, a sign of relief after the recent downward spiral. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday that prices of U.S. single-family homes rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in February, but were still down 6.5% from a year earlier.
The British pound fell to $1.4484, down 1.3% from $1.4675 late Tuesday, after the U.K. government released its budget. The budget included the revised schedule for sales of gilts, debt issued by the British Debt Management Office to fund government expenses. 
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