Investing.com - The euro was slightly lower against the dollar on Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy statement later in the session, while a renewed selloff in emerging markets also weighed.
EUR/USD touched session lows of 1.3603 and was last down 0.09% to 1.3658.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3500 and resistance 1.3715, the high of January 27.
The U.S. central bank was expected to roll back its asset purchase program by another $10 billion, to $65 billion per month. The central bank announced the first cut to its stimulus program in December.
A renewed selloff in emerging market currencies hit investor confidence after South Africa’s central bank hiked interest rates to 5.5% from 5% in a bid to arrest the steep decline in the rand.
The rand initially rose against the dollar, before quickly tumbling to five year lows.
Turkey’s lira also weakened against the dollar, falling back to levels seen before Tuesday’s night’s dramatic rate hike by Turkey’s central bank.
Emerging markets economies have been hard hit in recent sessions by worries over the impact of cuts in Fed stimulus and concerns over a possible slowdown in China.
The euro touched session lows earlier after European Central Bank council member Christian Noyer said any rise in the euro's exchange rate would be negative.
The euro was little changed against the pound, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.05% to 0.8247. The euro was sharply lower against the safe haven yen, with EUR/JPY dropping 0.73% to 139.67.
Elsewhere, the dollar was also lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.66% to 102.25.