By: Barbara Zigah

The Euro finally got a reprieve from the beating it’s taken this week as investors flocked to the safe haven currencies in the wake of growing Eurozone concerns. What helped to buoy the common currency was better than expected data from China, which showed that the economic slowdown was not as bad as some analysts had feared; according to the data, Gross Domestic Product grew at the rate of 9.5% in June, slightly better than the 9.4% forecast by analysts. That data also helped to boost other commodity-linked currencies, including the Australian and New Zealand Dollars.

As reported at 3:01 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro was trading against the U.S. Dollar at $1.4047; on Tuesday, the Euro experienced exceptional volatility, trading at a 4-month trough against the greenback, near $1.3838 before bouncing back. The Australian Dollar also gained against the greenback, trading 0.3% higher to $1.0630, while the New Zealand Dollar gained 0.5% against the U.S. Dollar, trading at 0.8223.

The U.S. Dollar found little support from yesterday’s release of the Federal Reserve Bank’s last meeting minutes. According to the statement, though the FOMC members are split, the doves may see another round of quantitative easing in the U.S. economy’s future if the sluggishness does not soon resolve.