NEW YORK: The dollar rose in choppy trading on Wednesday for a fourth straight session, as selling momentum eased with stocks under pressure, but positive vaccine news and prospects of more US fiscal stimulus next year should keep pressure on the greenback. In midday trading, the dollar gained 0.2% against a basket of currencies at 91.067. It reached an April 2018 low of 90.47 last Friday.

It hit session highs versus the yen and Swiss franc. The euro, on the other hand, fell 0.2% to $1.2079, but was still on track for an annual gain of nearly 8%, its largest since 2017. Riskier currencies, including the Australian and New Zealand dollars as well as the Chinese yuan, led gains against the dollar, but have come off their highs. Both the Aussie unit and Chinese currency hit 2-1/2-year peaks earlier.

The dollar dropped to 6.5198 yuan in onshore trading, its lowest since June 2018, putting the yuan up by more than 10% from its May lows, boosted by the softer dollar and steady inflows into Chinese stocks and bonds.

Sterling was volatile, up 0.2% against the dollar at $1.3379 before a Wednesday dinner between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels that is seen as a last-ditch attempt to salvage a Brexit trade deal. The Australian dollar rose to its highest since June 2018 against the greenback and was last up 0.6% at US$0.7451.