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The euro bought $1.5210 in morning trading in Europe, up from $1.5192 late in New York on Monday after fetching a record intraday high of $1.5266. The British pound rose slightly to $1.9867 from $1.9847 in New York, while the dollar fell to 103.04 Japanese yen from 103.96 the day before.
The yen's rise has caused concern in Japan. Japan's economy minister, Hiroko Ota, described the dollar's fall as "abnormally rapid."
Since the start of the year, the dollar has fallen more than 7 percent against the yen. That erodes Japanese exporters' overseas earnings and makes their exports more expensive.
The dollar was battered Monday by another series of weak economic reports from Washington.
Traders were looking ahead Tuesday to speeches by several U.S. Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Ben Bernanke, for indications on how they were leaning on future interest rate moves.
Speculation was growing that the Fed might cut rates by as much as 75 basis points this month.
While lower interest rates can jump-start a nation's economy, they can weaken its currency as traders transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns.
[Associated Press]
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