Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was steady to lower against its major counterparts on Tuesday, as markets eyed the European Central Bank’s upcoming policy meeting on Thursday, with hopes for fresh measures to stem the debt crisis in the euro zone.
During European morning trade, the dollar was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/USD adding 0.08% to 1.2601.
The euro found some support after ECB President Mario Draghi indicated on Monday that he would be comfortable buying bonds with maturities of up to about three years, saying that it would not constitute state financing.
At its policy meeting on Thursday, the ECB is expected to announce the details of a long awaited debt-buying program designed to help ease funding pressures for indebted euro zone countries.
Investors remained cautious however, after Moody’s rating agency put the European Union’s AAA credit rating on negative outlook, saying that its decision is in line with projections for the main budget contributors to the EU.
Germany, the Netherlands, France and the U.K. are all already on negative outlook.
Also Tuesday, government data showed that the number of unemployed people in Spain rose by 38,200 in August, following a 27,800 decline the previous month.
The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD edging up 0.04% to 1.5889.
The pound came under pressure after data showed that U.K. construction activity contracted unexpectedly in August, as new orders fell at the sharpest rate since April 2009.
The construction purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 49.0 in August from a reading of 50.9 the previous month. Analysts had expected the construction PMI to fall to 50.0 in August.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.19% to hit 78.40, and lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF slipping 0.05% to trade at 0.9531.
Official data showed earlier that Switzerland’s gross domestic product fell unexpectedly in the second quarter, ticking down 0.1%, following a 0.5% rise in the previous quarter.
Analysts had expected the Swiss GDP to rise 0.2% in the second quarter.
The greenback was steady against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD easing 0.03% to 0.9855, AUD/USD adding 0.09% to 1.0257 and NZD/USD inching down 0.03% to trade at 0.7974.
Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of Australia held the benchmark interest rate at 3.50%, in a widely expected move.
The bank indicated that, with inflation expected to be consistent with the target and growth close to trend, but with a more subdued international outlook than was the case a few months ago, the current stance of monetary policy remained appropriate.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was flat, trading at 81.17.
Later in the day, the Institute for Supply Management was to release a report on U.S. manufacturing activity.
During European morning trade, the dollar was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/USD adding 0.08% to 1.2601.
The euro found some support after ECB President Mario Draghi indicated on Monday that he would be comfortable buying bonds with maturities of up to about three years, saying that it would not constitute state financing.
At its policy meeting on Thursday, the ECB is expected to announce the details of a long awaited debt-buying program designed to help ease funding pressures for indebted euro zone countries.
Investors remained cautious however, after Moody’s rating agency put the European Union’s AAA credit rating on negative outlook, saying that its decision is in line with projections for the main budget contributors to the EU.
Germany, the Netherlands, France and the U.K. are all already on negative outlook.
Also Tuesday, government data showed that the number of unemployed people in Spain rose by 38,200 in August, following a 27,800 decline the previous month.
The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD edging up 0.04% to 1.5889.
The pound came under pressure after data showed that U.K. construction activity contracted unexpectedly in August, as new orders fell at the sharpest rate since April 2009.
The construction purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 49.0 in August from a reading of 50.9 the previous month. Analysts had expected the construction PMI to fall to 50.0 in August.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.19% to hit 78.40, and lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF slipping 0.05% to trade at 0.9531.
Official data showed earlier that Switzerland’s gross domestic product fell unexpectedly in the second quarter, ticking down 0.1%, following a 0.5% rise in the previous quarter.
Analysts had expected the Swiss GDP to rise 0.2% in the second quarter.
The greenback was steady against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD easing 0.03% to 0.9855, AUD/USD adding 0.09% to 1.0257 and NZD/USD inching down 0.03% to trade at 0.7974.
Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of Australia held the benchmark interest rate at 3.50%, in a widely expected move.
The bank indicated that, with inflation expected to be consistent with the target and growth close to trend, but with a more subdued international outlook than was the case a few months ago, the current stance of monetary policy remained appropriate.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was flat, trading at 81.17.
Later in the day, the Institute for Supply Management was to release a report on U.S. manufacturing activity.