Investing.com - The dollar was steady against the euro and moderately higher against the yen on Wednesday, as the previous session's upbeat U.S. housing starts data continued to support the greenback amid ongoing uncertainty over the timing of a U.S. rate hike.
EUR/USD was little changed at 1.1352.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that housing starts rose 6.5% to 1.206 million units last month from August’s total of 1.132 million units. Analysts had expected a figure of 1.140 million.
However, the report also showed that the number of building permits issued dropped by 5.0% to 1.103 million units from August’s total of 1.170 million. Analysts expected building permits to fall by 0.9% to 1.164 million units in July.
The mixed data fuelled further uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve plans to raise interest rates.
Meanwhile, the single currency strengthened as investors looked ahead to a European Central Bank meeting later in the week amid speculation that it could flag plans to enlarge its stimulus program.
The dollar was fractionally higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.09% at 119.96.
The greenback also edged higher against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD adding 0.08% to 1.2993 ahead of the Bank of Canada's monetary policy statement due later in the day.
The BoC was expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.50%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.91, not far from Monday's one-week highs of 95.05.