Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, ahead of U.S. economic growth data due later in the day but the greenback remained close to two-and-a-half month highs after the Federal Reserve signaled the possibility for a rate hike in December.
The dollar was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.17% at 120.88.
The dollar strengthened across the board after Wednesday’s Fed statement specifically said that officials might make a decision to act on rates their December meeting.
The Fed statement also downplayed concerns over recent turmoil in global financial markets.
The central bank kept rates on hold at its September meeting amid fears that a China-led slowdown in global growth could affect the U.S. economy.
The Fed statement highlighted the diverging monetary policy expectations between the U.S. and central banks in the rest of the world.
The dollar gave up some gains as investors looked ahead to preliminary data on U.S. third quarter growth later in the session.
The GDP report was expected to show that growth slowed to around 1.7% in the three months to September from 3.9% in the second quarter.
EUR/USD rose 0.29% to trade at 1.0956.
The single currency found some support after data earlier showed that the number of unemployed people in Germany decreased by 5,000 this month, better than expectations for a drop of 4,000.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD at 1.5269 and was lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF sliding 0.43% to 0.9901.
Markets shrugged off a report by the Bank of England on Thursday showing that total net lending to individuals increased by ₤4.9 billion last month, above forecasts for ₤4.4 billion and up from ₤4.7 billion in August.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.22% at 0.7102 and with NZD/USD edging down 0.13% to 0.6693.
Earlier Thursday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 2.75%, in a widely expected move.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD added 0.11% to trade at 1.3208.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.21% at 97.47, still close to Wednesday's two-and-a-half month highs of 97.89.