The U.S. dollar declined against other major currencies on Tuesday as investors pondered over comments from British Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit.
Britain will leave the European single market, restrict access to the country by EU citizens and end the jurisdiction in Britain of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), May said Tuesday in her toughest ever speech.
May said she wants Britain to remain as a "best friend and neighbor" to Europe, but also reach out to the rest of the world as a global trading nation, to countries such as China, Brazil and the Gulf States.
She added, however, the U.K. government will put the Brexit deal it agrees with the European Union to a parliamentary vote.
Analysts said that May's speech was expected to be catastrophic, but she has managed the expectations and delivered the speech very well.
The British pound surged over 2 percent following May's speech as it somewhat soothed anxious investors.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was also under pressure from Donald Trump's remarks, who said in a Friday interview with The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. currency has gotten "too strong."
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dropped 0.83 percent at 100.34 in late trading Tuesday.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0707 dollars from 1.0640 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound jumped to 1.2395 dollars from 1.2189 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar gained to 0.7562 dollar from 0.7496 dollar. The U.S. dollar bought 112.66 Japanese yen, lower than 114.46 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 1.0025 Swiss francs from 1.0088 Swiss francs, and it moved down to 1.3053 Canadian dollars from 1.3131 Canadian dollars.
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