The fall in the US currency, one of the steepest since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, came as US retail figures showed a 1.1 per cent year-on-year drop in sales in December — a bigger than expected fall that highlighted continuing weakness in the US economy.

“The trend has been very much in favour of dollar weakness, so it doesn’t take much to push it further in that direction,” said Alan Ruskin, head of G10 FX strategy at Deutsche Bank. “Any minor macro information can sway [the dollar].”