The US dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Thursday on a perceived lack of progress on US tax reform and public spending, while Wednesday's more dovish-than-expected Federal Reserve meeting minutes continued to weigh on the greenback. The dollar fell as much as 0.5 percent against the yen to a six-day low of 112.66 yen, while the euro rose as much as 0.3 percent against the dollar to $1.0587.
Concerns over the shape of politics on both sides of the Atlantic helped the safe-haven yen, with anti-EU French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's campaign and US President Donald Trump's policy timeline stoking demand for the Japanese currency. New US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business Network that any policy steps the Trump administration takes would likely have a limited impact this year and told CNBC that he wanted to see tax reform passed before Congress' August recess. That was in line with comments by other politicians over the past month, but seemed to some investors to dial back Trump's own recent promises. "While it remains very difficult to pin down a fixed schedule for Trump tax reforms, it now appears anything phenomenal will now be delayed," said Adam Myers, a currency strategist with Commonwealth Bank in London.
The euro was higher against the dollar, despite a poll showing Le Pen was only 10 points behind conservative Francois Fillon but 22 points behind centrist Emmanuel Macron in the potential second-round run-offs. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last down 0.2 percent at 101.020.
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