The Canadian dollar sank today as the sovereign-debt crisis in the European Union and the increasing number of the jobless claims in the U.S. sent equities and commodity prices tumbling down.

The Polish zloty pared its yesterday’s gains against the U.S. dollar and dropped versus the euro today on the concerns about the widening European sovereign-debt crisis, while the Polish government isn’t going to take actions as it considers the currency’s depreciation desirable.

The Australian dollar extended the decline against its U.S. counterpart for the fifth straight day and fell versus the euro for the second day as the financial turmoil in the European Union decreased the demand for the higher-yielding assets.

The Japanese yen gained today after the nation’s gross domestic product grew, signaling about the increasing pace of the country’s economic recovery.

The Canadian dollar weakened today against some other most traded currencies, including the U.S. dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen, after the decision of the Germany’s leaders to prohibit naked short selling caused the risk sentiment to deteriorate and the investors to shun the riskier assets.

The euro strengthened today against other most traded currencies on the hopes that European Union’s governments will take measures to ensure that the common European currency retain its strength.

The New Zealand dollar dropped today on the concern about the impact of Germany’s ban of short selling on the European economy and after the Governor of the central bank said that the gradual depreciation of the currency is desirable.

The Polish zloty was weakened today as the concerns about the outcome of the debt crisis in the European Union increased after Germany banned short selling.

The Canadian dollar fell against its U.S. counterpart and the Japanese yen after Germany banned some kinds of the investments, causing the North American stocks to drop and oil prices to go down.

The U.S. dollar rose today against the euro and the Great Britain pound on the speculation that the fiscal crisis in the Euro-zone will boost demand for the long-term U.S. financial assets; the U.S. currency dropped against the Japanese yen as the unfavorable reports diminished the optimism for the U.S. economic recovery.