The dollar is rising and the euro is again approaching its lowest level in 20 years

On Wednesday, the dollar made up for some data losses and rebounded towards recent peaks, while the euro remained under pressure amid growing recession fears fueled by a potential energy supply crisis.

The dollar took a breather after disappointing surveys of the US manufacturing and service sectors revealed on Tuesday, as well as a drop in new home sales. This comes after a rally that pushed the US currency to its strongest level against the euro in 20 years.

But Europe has its own growth concerns stemming from its greater exposure to Russian gas supplies as the region seeks to replenish stocks before winter.

Russian energy company Gazprom said on Friday that Russia would halt supplies of natural gas to Europe for three days via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline due to maintenance work.

The euro briefly hit $1 on Tuesday, but came back under pressure to $0.9950 in early European trade, slightly above yesterday’s low of $0.99005.

The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.1 percent to 108.66, approaching a 20-year peak recorded in July at 109.29.

Meanwhile, highly cyclical currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars have come under pressure amid fears of slowing global growth.

The Australian dollar fell 0.15 percent to $0.6920, and its New Zealand counterpart fell 0.23 percent to $0.6199.

The pound hovered above a two-and-a-half-year low of $1.1718 hit on Tuesday, while the Japanese yen rose 0.2 percent to 136.48 per dollar.