Investing.com - The dollar was almost unchanged and trading near six-week highs against the other major currencies on Wednesday, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy decision due later in the day and after the Bank of Japan introduced new policy measures.
USD/JPY held steady at 101.72, off a three-week low of 101.08 hit earlier in the day.
At the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday, the BoJ said it was abandoning its target to increase the monetary base and left interest rates unchanged at minus 0.1%.
The BoJ adopted "yield curve control" under which it will buy long-term government bonds to keep 10-year bond yields at current levels around 0%.
The central bank also said it would continue to buy long-term government bonds at a pace that ensures its holdings increase by ¥80 trillion per year.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the Fed’s monthly policy decision, due later Wednesday. Although most traders expect the U.S. central bank to hold back from raising interest rates this month, any comments regarding the Fed’s future policy moves will be closely watched.
EUR/USD was little changed at 1.1146, while GBP/USD held at a fresh one-month low of 1.2986.
Markets shrugged off a report by the U.K. Office for National Statistics saying that public sector net borrowing rose by £10.05 billion in August, compared to expectations for an increase of £10.30 billion.Public sector net borrowing declined by £2.43 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated £1.47 billion drop.
Meanwhile, the Swiss franch edged higher, with USD/CHF slipping 0.18% to 0.9774.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.46% at 0.7591 and with NZD/USD adding 0.15% to 0.7324.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD shed 0.22% to trade at 1.3164.
The commodity currencies strengthened as oil prices jumped more than 2% on Wednesday morning on bets for bullish U.S. stockpile data later in the day.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.99, after rising to a six-week high of 96.29 overnight.