Dollar tumbles against basket of currencies in Europe

The dollar tumbled to a seven-week low against a basket of currencies on Wednesday on worries that US President Donald Trump was focusing too much on protectionism and isolationism, and not enough on pro-growth policies.
The biggest gainer among major currencies was sterling, which jumped above $1.26 for the first time in six weeks on hopes for a trade deal between Britain and the United States, which UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday would put "put UK interests and UK values first".
Her comments carried echoes of Trump's "America first" message in his inaugural speech on Friday. For the dollar, though, Trump's comments had acted as a negative, with investors disappointed by the lack of detail on his planned fiscal stimulus and worried that Trump's protectionist leanings could harm the US economy.
Moves by Trump on oil pipeline projects on Tuesday had boosted US equity markets and pulled the greenback back after a fall the previous day.
But the focus on Wednesday shifted back away from policies that might boost growth. Trump is expected later in the day to start signing executive orders aimed at securing the US border, including a temporary ban on most refugees.
The president also said on Wednesday he would seek a "major investigation" on voter fraud in the November election.
The dollar index - which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies - fell half a percent to 99.835, its lowest since December 8, leaving it almost 4 percent down from a 14-year high hit at the start of 2017.
= "What we've seen this year is more of a focus on the isolationist, protectionist policies of Trump. The market had chosen to ignore those last year, but now focus has swung back ... Protectionism is usually detrimental to growth," said Rabobank currency strategist Jane Foley in London.
The Australian dollar fell as much as 0.8 percent after both quarterly and annual inflation undershot expectations, rekindling hopes of one more cut in interest rates. "It is not so surprising to see a lower inflation number get a lot more attention," said Barclays strategist Hamish Pepper.
"The risk is that the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) will have to do more with policy to generate inflation. Despite the fact that they don't sound particularly panicked, they are also probably a bit disappointed by how the non-mining sector has not picked up." The Aussie, which has been rallying along with equity markets since early November but is still well short of last year's highs, traded down 0.3 percent at $0.7560 by 1315 GMT.