Euro hits 7-week high, dollar hampered by soft data

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) : The euro touched a seven-week high against the dollar on Wednesday, with the greenback struggling in the wake of more soft economic data and news that foreign investors had been heavy sellers of US assets.
The euro rose as high as $1.37735 during Asian trading, its strongest level since January 2, and was last trading flat at $1.3757, with equity markets offering investors little direction.
Tuesday's New York manufacturing and US housing data were the latest numbers out of the United States to disappoint investors, increasing pressure on the dollar.
The numbers bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to be patient in its tapering of its huge bond-buying programme, ahead of Wednesday's release of minutes from its January policy meeting when it opted to trim asset buying by another $10 billion.
The data also pushed Treasury yields lower, with the yield spread between 2-year Treasuries and German 2-year bunds down over the past week, offering less support to the greenback.
Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar index .DXY fell as low as 79.927, its lowest level this year, before recovering to trade down 0.1 per cent on the day at 79.966.