Investing.com - The dollar pushed higher against the yen and the euro on Wednesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s keenly anticipated meeting minutes later in the day, amid ongoing speculation over the Fed’s plans to begin unwinding stimulus.
During European morning trade, the dollar gained ground against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.22% to 97.47.
Investors were awaiting the release of the minutes from the Fed’s July meeting later Wednesday for further indications as to when the central bank may start tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
Market sentiment has been hit by mounting expectations that the Fed may start to phase out stimulus measures, known as quantitative easing, as soon as next month.
The yen briefly moved higher against the dollar earlier in the session after Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said it wants to raise the severity level of a radioactive water leak at the Fukushima plant from one to three on a scale that goes up to seven.
The dollar was also higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.20% to 1.3391 in thin trade.
The dollar was steady close to two-month lows against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.01% to 1.5669.
The pound shrugged off data showing that the U.K.’s public sector posted a deficit of GBP1.6 billion in July. It was the first deficit for the month of July, which usually shows a surplus due to tax payments, since 2010.
The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF climbing 0.19% to trade at 0.9191.
Elsewhere, the greenback was broadly higher against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD falling 0.63% to 0.9012, NZD/USD dropping 1.03% to 0.7897 and USD/CAD advancing 0.40% to 1.0435.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.24% to 81.13.
The U.S. was to release private sector data on new home sales later Wednesday.
During European morning trade, the dollar gained ground against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.22% to 97.47.
Investors were awaiting the release of the minutes from the Fed’s July meeting later Wednesday for further indications as to when the central bank may start tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
Market sentiment has been hit by mounting expectations that the Fed may start to phase out stimulus measures, known as quantitative easing, as soon as next month.
The yen briefly moved higher against the dollar earlier in the session after Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said it wants to raise the severity level of a radioactive water leak at the Fukushima plant from one to three on a scale that goes up to seven.
The dollar was also higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.20% to 1.3391 in thin trade.
The dollar was steady close to two-month lows against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.01% to 1.5669.
The pound shrugged off data showing that the U.K.’s public sector posted a deficit of GBP1.6 billion in July. It was the first deficit for the month of July, which usually shows a surplus due to tax payments, since 2010.
The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF climbing 0.19% to trade at 0.9191.
Elsewhere, the greenback was broadly higher against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD falling 0.63% to 0.9012, NZD/USD dropping 1.03% to 0.7897 and USD/CAD advancing 0.40% to 1.0435.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.24% to 81.13.
The U.S. was to release private sector data on new home sales later Wednesday.