· The dollar was supported on Wednesday by expectations that the Trump administration’s tax reforms would pass through congress while the euro was underpinned by a sharp rise in German bond yields.
The Republican-led U.S. Senate approved sweeping tax legislation in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, sending the tax cut package back to the House of Representatives for a final vote later in the day.
The dollar briefly extended its gains against the yen and touched an intraday high of 113.075 yen following the news of the Senate’s approval, but reaction was muted overall.
The dollar last stood at 113.01 yen JPY=, up 0.1 percent on the day, having pulled away from Friday's low of 112.035, with last week's high of 113.75 seen as its next target.
· Bitcoin fell more than 10 percent on Wednesday to a one-week low of $15,800 at cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp BTC=BTSP, losing almost one- fifth of its value from a peak hit just three days ago.
The digital currency has been sliding since it reached a record high of $19,666 on Sunday, when the exchange giant CME Group (CME.O) launched bitcoin futures, one week after its rival Cboe Global Markets (CBOE.O) listed the world’s first bitcoin futures.
· Senate Republicans passed a dramatic overhaul of the American tax system early Wednesday morning, putting the plan another House vote away from President Donald Trump's desk after Senate rules forced them to make last-minute changes.
· House Republicans approved the most sweeping rewrite of the US tax code in a generationon Tuesday but immediately ran into trouble with Senate rules and will have to vote again on Wednesday.
· Oil prices inched up on Wednesday, supported by expectations of a fall in U.S. crude inventories and by the ongoing outage of the North Sea Forties pipeline system.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $57.73 a barrel at 0312 GMT, up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.91 a barrel, up 11 cents, or 0.17 percent.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, The Guardian
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