Investing.com - The dollar held steady near three-week highs against the other major currencies on Wednesday, as investors awaited the release of U.S. employment data due later in the day.
EUR/USD was little changed at 1.1147, just off Tuesday’s two-week trough of 1.1128.
Market participants were looking ahead to a U.S. employment report due later Wednesday, for further indications on the strength of the economy.
On Tuesday Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said the U.S. labor market is almost at full strength and the pace of interest rate increases will be data dependent.
Earlier Wednesday, Eurostat said euro zone consumer price inflation rose by 0.2% this month, compared to forecasts for an increase of 0.3%, and following a final reading of a 0.2% advance in June.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, increased by 0.8% in August, missing expectations for it remain steady at July’s reading of a 0.9% gain.
The weaker than expected reading would be seen as negative news for the euro zone’s monetary authority as inflation remains far below its 2% target.
GBP/USD gained 0.46% to 1.3140.
USD/JPY edged up 0.11% to 103.09, while USD/CHF slipped 0.10% to 0.9826.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.17% at 0.7522 and with NZD/USD advancing 0.46% to 0.7251.
Data on Wednesday showed that the ANZ business confidence index for New Zealand ticked down to 15.5 in August from 16.0 the previous month.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD eased 0.08% to trade at 1.3086, after hitting a three-week high of 1.3112 earlier in the session.
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, just off the three-week high of 96.12 hit overnight.