Investing.com - The U.S. dollar drifted lower against major currencies on Wednesday, ahead of the January 31 to February 1 Federal Reserve Open Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, due to be released at 14:00 ET.
The U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 101.38, down 0.08%, after trading near its 1-week high during the session.
Despite a stronger U.S. existing home sales print for January of 5.69 million compared to expectations of 5.51 million, the dollar index failed to add to gains in the early morning U.S. session, as market participants await the minutes of the FOMC for direction.
Many expect a hawkish tone among policymakers, after several Fed members’, including Fed Chief Janet Yellen, indicated that the Fed should tighten interest rates sooner rather, should the U.S. economy continue to show robust growth.
Against the backdrop of optimistic comments from Fed members’ concerning a March rate hike, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday, the U.S. labor market has "more room to run”, indicating that the Fed may not hike in March.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD fell 0.21% to $1.244, after the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 2% year-on-year, compared to expectations for a 2.2% rise.
The euro recovered from session lows to trade at $1.055 up 0.13%, after the single currency shrugged off concerns over France’s presidential election campaign while EUR/GBP gained 0.34% to trade at 0.8478.
USD/JPY traded lower at $113.46, down 0.18%.
Meanwhile, the Russian USD/RUB tumbled more than 1% against the dollar to trade at 57.97, after a report revealed that Russia’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.6% in January, up from 5.3% in December.