* Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) COVID-19 vaccine trial shows 95% effective
* Dollar index edges down to more than one-week low
* Bitcoin surges above $18,000, but last down on the day
* Euro ticks up, investor ignore EU recovery fund hurdles
* Sterling gains on Brexit developments
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Recasts, adds new comment, FX table, updates prices, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, sliding to a more than one-week low, as positive vaccine news offset the surge in coronavirus cases and tighter economic restrictions across the United States and Europe.
The market showed a little more appetite for risk-taking, with gains in currencies that rise in times of improving sentiment such as sterling, the New Zealand dollar, and Norwegian crown.
Pfizer PFE.N announced that the final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective, giving relief to a pandemic-weary market That followed news that Moderna Inc MRNA.O released preliminary data for its vaccine, showing 94.5% effectiveness. said, the number of reported global daily deaths from the coronavirus stood at 10,816 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest single-day death count. The United States, the worst-affected country worldwide, has reported about 11.38 million infections and 248,574 deaths since the pandemic started. spike in COVID cases is generally good for the dollar and other safe-haven currencies like the yen and Swiss franc, but the positive vaccine news roughly counters that," said Greg Anderson, global head of foreign exchange strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York.
The dollar overall is expected to weaken as global economies improve once the vaccine gets widely distributed and as the Federal Reserve stands ready to provide more easing that should further erode the value of the greenback.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday there was "a long way to go" to economic recovery and a retail sales report released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed spending decelerating. mid-morning trading, the dollar index slipped 0.1% to 92.298 =USD , after dropping as low as 92.207, its lowest level since Nov. 9. BTC=BTSP , sometimes regarded as a safe haven, or at least a hedge against inflation, rose to more than $18,000 for the first time in nearly three years. It last stood around $17,594, down 0.4%.
The euro EUR=EBS was slightly up on the day at $1.1869 rising, despite Poland and Hungary blocking the European Union's 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.14 trillion) financial package to revive an economy depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sterling, meanwhile, rose 0.3% versus the dollar to $1.3297 GBP=D3 in the wake of a report from the Sun newspaper that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was told by British negotiators to expect a Brussels trade deal early next week, with "a possible landing zone" as soon as next Tuesday. dollar though fell 0.3% against the yen to 103.865 JPY=EBS , with the Japanese currency recouping much of the losses it suffered last week after Pfizer announced it had developed a working COVID-19 vaccine.
China's offshore yuan surged to its highest in more than two years against the dollar on Wednesday. The greenback though recovered to trade 0.2% higher at 6.5619 amid dollar-buying by major state-owned banks in what some traders suspected was an effort to slow the Chinese currency's advance towards 6.5-per dollar. bid prices at 10:11AM (1511 GMT) Description
RIC
Last
U.S. Close Pct Change
YTD Pct
High Bid
Low Bid
Previous
Change
Session
Dollar index
=USD
92.2960
92.4330
-0.13%
+0.00%
+92.5160
+92.2070 Euro/Dollar
EUR=EBS
$1.1867
$1.1861
+0.05%
+5.85%
+1.1891
+1.1851 Dollar/Yen
JPY=D3
103.8250
104.1900
-0.35%
-4.41%
+104.1900 +103.8250 Euro/Yen
EURJPY=
123.19
123.57
-0.31%
+1.03%
+123.6300 +123.2100 Dollar/Swiss
0.9108
0.9116
-0.05%
-5.84%
+0.9122
+0.9098 Sterling/Dollar GBP=D3
1.3302
1.3250
+0.39%
+0.29%
+1.3305
+1.3248 Dollar/Canadian CAD=D3
1.3076
1.3107
-0.23%
+0.66%
+1.3117
+1.3056 Aussie/Dollar
AUD=D3
0.7313
0.7300
+0.18%
+4.23%
+0.7328
+0.7272 Euro/Swiss
EURCHF=
1.0807
1.0811
-0.04%
-0.41%
+1.0824
+1.0804 Euro/Sterling
EURGBP=
0.8919
0.8953
-0.38%
+5.50%
+0.8959
+0.8921 NZ
NZD=D3
0.6927
0.6894
+0.49%
+2.96%
+0.6930
+0.6877 Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway
NOK=D3
9.0210
9.0700
-0.53%
+2.84%
+9.0890
+9.0095 Euro/Norway
EURNOK=
10.7050
10.7464
-0.39%
+8.81%
+10.7790
+10.6960 Dollar/Sweden
8.5997
8.6131
-0.23%
-8.00%
+8.6359
+8.5803 Euro/Sweden
EURSEK=
10.2055
10.2293
-0.23%
-2.52%
+10.2420
+10.1870