euro hong kong dollar us dollar japanese yen pound and chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration january 21 2016 reutersjason leeillustrationfile photo new york dec 1 reuters  the us dollar fell on wednesday morning in trading that saw the safehaven yen and swiss franc appreciate even as the riskon british and australian currencies rebounded from lows the day before the moves underlined the fragility of the calm that seemed to have settled over the foreign exchange markets earlier in the day traders are weighing what the new omicron variant of the coronavirus might do to plans that federal reserve chair jerome powell signaled on tuesday to move more quickly to raise us interest rates the dollar index  which measures the greenback against major currencies was down 03 on the day at 95682 at 1007 et 1507 gmt losing a similar amount to the japanese yen and falling 01 against the swiss franc  the british pound  often considered a riskon currency was up nearly 04 at 13344 the pound on tuesday had been knocked to its lowest level in nearly a year by fears over vaccine effectiveness against the omicron variant  weve gotten these conflicting claims about the new variant and powells comments really threw the markets for a loop said marc chandler chief market strategist at bannockburn global forex people are still pretty nervous chandler said powell said on tuesday that the risk of inflation had increased and he signaled the central bank may accelerate its bondbuying taper at its meeting later this month read more the dollar showed little initial reaction on wednesday morning to the adp report on us private payrolls it showed an increase of 534000 jobs last month slightly higher than the 525000 jobs that economists polled by reuters had forecast read more it means another solid jobs report on friday when the us government posts more comprehensive payroll numbers chandler said fridays us jobs data is the next big thing the greenback is up 6 this year november was its strongest month since june the euro was up 02 on the day at 11356 at 1007 am et 1507 gmt eurodollar volatility gauges reached their highest levels of the year on monday amid the conflicting virus and interest rate signals the omicron variant could slow fed tightening and thus be good for the euro ing strategists wrote in a client note both themes will be fed many fresh inputs over the next four weeks and thinning liquidity conditions point to bumpy conditions in fx markets ing said prior to the tailspin caused by omicrons advent the main driver of exchange rates had been expectations of the different speeds at which central banks will raise interest rates the australian and new zealand dollars also made gains lifting them from oneyear lows the aussie was up 05 at 07168 and the kiwi was up 06 at 06866  the chinese yuan  a beacon of resilience in a turbulent few days touched a sixmonth high of 63596 per dollar after betterthanexpected november manufacturing data in cryptocurrencies bitcoin was up about 2 at 57885 at 904 et 1404 gmt reporting by david henry in new york additional reporting by joice alves and elizabeth howcroft in london editing by barbara lewis emelia sitholematarise and jonathan oatis