Investing.com - The euro was treading water against the other major currencies on Wednesday, as markets waited to see if the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will ease monetary policy this week.
During European late morning trade, the euro was fractionally higher against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD inching up 0.04% to 1.2310.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile amid growing concerns that the ECB will disappoint expectations for bold steps to counter the debt crisis in the euro zone.
Expectations have been mounting that the ECB will announce measures to lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs after the bank’s head Mario Draghi pledged last week to do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro.
Earlier in the day, German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said that governments had overestimated the ECB's capacities and placed too many demands on it.
Market participants were eyeing the outcome of the Fed’s policy setting meeting later in the day, after U.S. data on Tuesday tempered expectations for another round of quantitative easing measures.
The euro edged higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY easing up 0.07% to 96.19 and remained unchanged against the Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF trading at 1.2011.
The single currency strengthened against the pound, with EUR/GBP climbing 0.35% to 0.7876, following data showing that manufacturing activity in the U.K. fell at the fastest pace in more than three years in July.
The Markit/CIPS U.K. manufacturing purchasing managers' index dropped to 45.4 in July, the lowest level since March 2009, from a downwardly revised 48.4 in June and well below forecasts for a reading of 48.7.
The weak data fuelled expectations for more monetary easing by the Bank of England in the coming months, after data last week showed that the U.K. economy contracted in the three months to June, extending the recession into a third quarter.
Elsewhere, the euro was hovering close to record lows against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with EUR/AUD down 0.17% to 1.1695, EUR/NZD shedding 0.44% to trade at 1.5146 and EUR/CAD dropping 0.14% to 1.2326.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was also to release data on non-farm employment change, while the Institute for Supply Management was to produce a report on U.S. manufacturing activity.
During European late morning trade, the euro was fractionally higher against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD inching up 0.04% to 1.2310.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile amid growing concerns that the ECB will disappoint expectations for bold steps to counter the debt crisis in the euro zone.
Expectations have been mounting that the ECB will announce measures to lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs after the bank’s head Mario Draghi pledged last week to do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro.
Earlier in the day, German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said that governments had overestimated the ECB's capacities and placed too many demands on it.
Market participants were eyeing the outcome of the Fed’s policy setting meeting later in the day, after U.S. data on Tuesday tempered expectations for another round of quantitative easing measures.
The euro edged higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY easing up 0.07% to 96.19 and remained unchanged against the Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF trading at 1.2011.
The single currency strengthened against the pound, with EUR/GBP climbing 0.35% to 0.7876, following data showing that manufacturing activity in the U.K. fell at the fastest pace in more than three years in July.
The Markit/CIPS U.K. manufacturing purchasing managers' index dropped to 45.4 in July, the lowest level since March 2009, from a downwardly revised 48.4 in June and well below forecasts for a reading of 48.7.
The weak data fuelled expectations for more monetary easing by the Bank of England in the coming months, after data last week showed that the U.K. economy contracted in the three months to June, extending the recession into a third quarter.
Elsewhere, the euro was hovering close to record lows against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with EUR/AUD down 0.17% to 1.1695, EUR/NZD shedding 0.44% to trade at 1.5146 and EUR/CAD dropping 0.14% to 1.2326.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was also to release data on non-farm employment change, while the Institute for Supply Management was to produce a report on U.S. manufacturing activity.