NEW YORK, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar slightly weakened against most major currencies Wednesday and it retreated versus the Japanese yen amid escalated Ukraine tensions.
Market demand for safe-haven assets such as the yen expanded as reports showed that Russia has amassed around 20,000 troops on the eastern border of Ukraine in the past few days, which raised speculations of an invasion to stop Ukrainian troop's recent advances against pro-independence insurgents.
In early trading, the dollar hit the highest level against the euro in nine months after data showed Italy's gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank 0.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, but it gradually lost its gains in following trading.
The U.S. trade deficit dropped by a more-than-expected 7 percent to 41.5 billion U.S. dollars in June, the lowest level since January, said the Commerce Department on Wednesday. However, the data failed to lift the greenback.
Meanwhile, investors will pay close attention to several central bank meetings this week. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England will hold monetary policy meetings on Thursday, and the Bank of Japan will discuss monetary policies on Friday.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3377 dollars from 1.3374 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.6846 dollars from 1.6876 dollars. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.9350 dollars from 0.9300 dollars.
The dollar bought 102.05 Japanese yen, lower than 102.55 yen of the previous session. The dollar went down to 0.9079 Swiss francs from 0.9093 Swiss francs, and it moved down to 1.0922 Canadian dollars from 1.0965 Canadian dollars.
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