By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was up on Wednesday morning in Asia after Germany’s highest court ruled overnight that the European Central Bank justify purchases under its bond-buying program.
The country’s Federal Court of Justice gave the ECB three months to justify the purchases or risk losing the Bundesbank as a participant in the program to fight the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus.
“This will be the second time we have been in a major crisis where the ECB has been put under heavy pressure,” St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard told CNBC.
“This very much is a stress test for the euro and the European project to be able to react to this crisis in an effective way. I am just hopeful this will be a catalyst.”
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies slipped 0.11% to 99.873 by 11:44 PM ET (4:44 AM GMT).
Meanwhile, the USD/JPY pair was down 0.19% to 106.38.
The USD/CNY pair gained 0.44% to 7.0910, with investors gauging Chinese reaction to accusations from top U.S. officials that the virus originated in a Wuhan lab.
U.S. President Donald Trump pressed China about the origins of the virus overnight as Chinese markets reopened after a five-day holiday.
The GBP/USD pair slid 0.04% to 1.2429, with the Bank of England due to announce its policy decision on Thursday.
The AUD/USD pair lost 0.03% to 0.6428 and the NZD/USD pair gained 0.04% to 0.6052.