Investing.com - The dollar was steady at seven-week lows against the euro on Wednesday after some more downbeat U.S. economic data, as investors awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting later in the trading day.
EUR/USD hit 1.3774, the highest since January 2 and was down 0.03% to 1.3754.
The dollar showed little reaction after the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts fell 16% in January to 880,000 units, compared to expectations for a 5.7% drop.
The number of building permits issued last month declined by 5.4% to a seasonally adjusted 937,000 units
A separate report showed that U.S. producer prices rose 0.2% last month, above forecasts for a 0.1% gain, while core producer prices were also up 0.2%.
Investors were looking ahead to the minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting later Wednesday, when the bank voted to cut its stimulus program by another $10 billion to $65 billion per month.
Earlier this month Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the central bank is on track to maintain the pace of reductions to its stimulus program, as long as the economy continues to improve as expected.
The dollar was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY slipping 0.14% to 102.21, after falling as low as 101.85 earlier.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD was up 0.16% to 1.6709, recovering from session lows of 1.6637.
Sterling slipped lower earlier after official data showed that the U.K. unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 7.2% in the three months to December from 7.1% in the previous three months.
The data added to the view that the Bank of England is likely to keep interest rates on hold for some time to come.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. declined to by 27,600 last month, to 1.22 million.
The dollar was almost unchanged against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF dipping 0.04% to 0.8874.
The U.S. dollar rose to session highs against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD advancing 0.74% to 1.1033.
The Canadian dollar fell after data showing that domestic wholesale sales fell 1.9% in December, far more than expectations for a 0.5% decline, reawakened concerns over the subdued economic outlook.
The Australian dollar edged higher, with AUD/USD inching up 0.08% to 0.9033, while NZD/USD was up 0.11% to 0.8318.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, inched up 0.03% to 80.08, but remained close to the nine-week lows struck earlier in the session.