Falling Australian dollar rescues the greenback

The greenback edged up against the international majors in early Tokyo trade as the Australian dollar tumbled on disappointing data release, which indicated a large economic slowdown in Q4 growth.
The Aussie plunged from 0.795 levels to early 0.78 as the GDP grew a meager 0.1% vis-à-vis the expected 0.5% gain, despite a widely expected quarter percentage rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia to 5.5%.
The single European currency declined below the 1.32 mark on emerging concerns in the eurozone – PMI manufacturing survey was flat at 51.9, Germany’s jobless claims soared by 161k to 4.88 million to touch a record high while the adjusted unemployment rate surged to a 7-year peak of 11.7% and European Commission’s indicator of economic sentiment plummeted to a 12-month low.
Currency markets completely ignored the slowdown in US manufacturing activity in February as it shifted focus to gloomy fundamentals emanating from Europe that reinforced anticipation for steady eurozone interest rates.
The Japanese yen continued to hover around the 104.5 mark as strong household spending figures provided adequate boost to prevent any decline. Following euro’s fall, Sterling dropped below the 1.92 mark to trade around the mid 1.91s.