After tumbling earlier, sterling rallied against the dollar on Wednesday following the Bank of England’s (BOE) purchase of UK government bonds, letting some air out of the greenback’s progress broadly after it had touched a fresh 20-year high.
The BoE said it received 2.587 billion pounds’ ($2.78 billion) worth of offers in its first bond buyback operation aimed at stabilizing the market, and had accepted only 1.025 billion pounds’ worth. The central bank had committed to buying as many long-dated government bonds, know as gilts, as needed between Wednesday and Oct. 14.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a group of major currencies, was last at 112.660 after hitting a fresh 20-year high of 114.78.
While the dollar initially had broad-based gains, the greenback eased sharply as the U.S. trading session progressed, with the euro last up 1.52% at $0.9739 after falling as low as $0.95355 .
The dollar was last down 0.61% against Japan’s yen at 143.955 after touching a high of 144.860.