More broadly, the dollar held firm, though moves were subdued as traders awaited a closely watched U.S. inflation reading due later on Wednesday.
Analysts attributed the slide to an unwinding of long dollar positions after a recent run of resilient U.S. economic data.
Wednesday's U.S. consumer price index, or CPI, data for August comes just a week before Federal Reserve officials gather to decide on interest rate policy.
"In recent months, European inflation, core inflation in particular, has fallen more slowly than expected.
"The high inflation rate warrants another rate hike, but the economic indicators ... signal that a recession is imminent."
Persons:
Kazuo Ueda, Alvin Tan, Ueda, Hiroshige Seko, Sterling, CME's, Tina Teng
Organizations:
Bank of Japan, Asia FX, RBC Capital Markets, Federal Reserve, U.S, Fed, CMC Markets, European Central Bank, Reuters, ECB, Rabobank
Locations:
U.S, Asia