The euro and the pound fell on concerns about global growth

The Euro and the British Pound fell on Wednesday as concerns returned that interest rate hikes by major central banks to contain inflation threatened to sharply slow global growth or even trigger a recession.

Data showed that consumer price inflation in Britain reached its highest level in 40 years at 9.1 percent, which pushed the pound sterling to fall by nearly one percent, falling to its lowest level in a week at 1.2162, before trimming some of its losses. It fell 0.2 percent to $1.2254 by 1115 GMT.

With investors once again concerned about global growth prospects, the safe-haven US dollar rose against most of the other major currencies. The yen hit a 24-year low as rising US and European bond yields contrasted with low Japanese interest rates.

The other major event on Wednesday is the start of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s two-day testimony to Congress as investors grope for more indications on whether the Fed will consider a 75 basis point interest rate hike at its meeting next month.

The dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of six currencies, including the euro and the yen, rose 0.05 percent to 104.5. The euro index fell 0.1 percent to $1.0524.

The yen recorded its last rise, by 0.65 percent, at 135.96 per dollar, after reaching 136.71 in early trading, its lowest level since October 1998.

Regarding commodity-linked currencies, the Norwegian krone fell 1.3 percent against the dollar to 9.9750, while the Australian dollar fell 0.94 percent to $0.6907, due to the decline in commodity prices as well.