Investing.com - The dollar trimmed losses against the other major currencies on Wednesday, despite the release of disappointing U.S. nonfarm employment data, while ongoing tensions in Washington continued to weigh.
Payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by 178,000 last month, just below forecasts for an increase of 185,000. The economy created 191,000 jobs in June, upwardly revised from a previously reported increase of 158,000.
Investors were now looking ahead to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for July for fresh indications on the possible direction of Fed policy.
The dollar remained under pressure after the White House on Tuesday confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump played a role in drafting a statement about his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer during last year’s election campaign, which was later shown to be misleading.
The fresh revelations added to investors’ fears that the ongoing controversies embroiling the Trump administration will make it more difficult to make progress on the president’s economic agenda.
Recent lackluster U.S. economic reports, which have raised doubts over the future pace of policy tightening by the Federal Reserve, have also weighed on the greenback.
EUR/USD was up 0.24% at 1.1828, off a 32-month peak of 1.1868 hit overnight.
The single currency has been largely supported in recent weeks, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled in June that it could soon start tapering its stimulus program.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD added 0.14% to 1.3226, as investors began to prepare for the Bank of England’s monthly policy statement, due on Thursday.
Markets shrugged off a report by research group Markit on Wednesday saying that its U.K. construction purchasing managers' index fell to 51.9 last month from June’s reading of 54.8.
Economists had expected the index to drop to only 54.5 in July.
USD/JPY advanced 0.39% to 110.78, while USD/CHF advanced 0.38% to trade at 0.9693.
The Australian dollar was steady, with AUD/USD at 0.7964, while NZD/USD dropped 0.59% to 0.7425.
Earlier Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand reported that the number of employed people fell by 0.2% in the second quarter, disappointing expectations for a 0.7% rise.
However, the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.8% in the last quarter from 4.9% in the first quarter of 2017, in line with expectations.
In Australia, data showed that building approvals climbed 10.9% in June, blowing past expectations for a 1.5% rise.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD eased up 0.09% to trade at 1.2564, after hitting a five-week low of 1.2412 on Tuesday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 92.85, off a session low of 92.66 but still close to the previous session’s 15-month trough of 92.64.