Dollar Mixed as Irish Debt Worries Regain Attention

NEW YORK, Dec. 10 -- The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Thursday as Ireland's sovereign debt rating was downgraded and investors waited for a vote on a rescue package for the country.

Fitch became the first rating agency to downgraded Ireland's rating from A to BBB+ on Thursday, initiating new round of worries on Ireland's debt problem.

Also, the outcome of a vote on a rescue package for Ireland remained unclear and worried investors. Ireland's Labor Party earlier said it would vote against a 85-billion-euro rescue deal from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union when it comes before parliament next week, raising concerns about Ireland's ability to service and redeem outstanding debt.

The euro last traded around 1.3231 against the dollar, after hitting a session low of 1.3164 in earlier trading session, while the dollar dropped below 83.50 against the Japanese yen in late trading session.

Many analysts said that regardless of the outcome in Ireland, the euro was likely remain under pressure as market participants continue to focus on debt problems in other euro zone countries, especially Spain, whose economy accounts for nearly 12 percent of euro-wide gross domestic product.

In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 83.99 Japanese yen, compared with 84.07 late Wednesday, and the euro fell to 1.3185 dollars from 1.3261.

The British pound fell to 1.5712 dollars from 1.5802. The dollar fell from 0.9868 to 0.9832 against Swiss francs, and also fell to 1.0103 Canadian dollars from 1.0105.