Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was steady to lower against its major counterparts on Wednesday, as markets awaited the release of a highly anticipated policy statement by the Federal Reserve later in the day, followed by the European Central Bank’s policy meeting on Thursday.
During European morning trade, the dollar was steady against the euro, with EUR/USD inching up 0.06% to 1.2312.
Markets were jittery ahead of the upcoming Fed announcement, amid speculation over whether the U.S. central bank will indicate if further quantitative easing measures are imminent.
Meanwhile, investors were also concerned that the European Central Bank may disappoint market expectations for bold steps to counter the euro zone debt crisis at its policy meeting on Thursday.
Expectations have been mounting that the ECB will announce measures to lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs after central bank chief Mario Draghi pledged last week to do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro.
Also Wednesday, a report by Markit research group showed that its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for Spain rose to 42.3 in July from a reading of 41.1 the previous month.
The greenback was higher against the pound, with GBP/USD shedding 0.22% to 1.5644.
The pound came under pressure after the Markit/CIPS U.K. manufacturing PMI dropped to 45.4 in July, the lowest level since March 2009, from a downwardly revised 48.4 in June and well below forecasts for a reading of 48.7.
The data came after a report showed that U.K. house prices fell at the fastest annual rate in almost three years in July.
Elsewhere, the greenback was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY inching down 0.01% to hit 78.12, and edged lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF easing 0.07% to trade at 0.9755.
The greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD falling 0.20% to 1.0012, AUD/USD adding 0.28% to 1.0534 and NZD/USD climbing 0.58% to trade at 0.8135.
In Australia, official data showed earlier that house price inflation rose unexpectedly in the second quarter, ticking up 0.5% after a 0.1% fall the previous quarter.
Analysts had expected house price inflation to fall 0.5% in the second quarter.
The export-related currencies remained under pressure however, after data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity slumped to an eight-month low in June, sparking renewed fears over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.06% to 82.68.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on non-farm employment change, while the Institute for Supply Management was to produce a report on manufacturing activity.
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