American focus: the euro has increased significantly

The dollar fell to its lowest level since November 2011 against the euro, as the European economic confidence increased. At the same time, the market has increased speculation as to whether the Federal Reserve reiterated its commitment to monetary stimulus measures.

Growth for the euro is supported by data that showed that the index of consumer sentiment in the euro zone rose this month to the level of 89.2, compared with the revised figure for December at 87.8, while the experts are expected to rise to 88.2. The single currency has continued to grow, even in spite of the fact that the report showed that Spain's economic downturn deepened in the fourth quarter. It is learned that the gross domestic product fell by 0.7 per cent compared with 0.3% in the previous quarter.

The dollar lost some ground against the yen, which was caused by the published data, which showed that the U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank in the fourth quarter by 0.1%, compared with analysts' expectations of 1.1% growth.

The New Zealand dollar fell against all 16 most-traded currencies on speculation that its current accompanying statement, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bank will signal a possible decrease in the value of currency.