Investing.com - The euro fell to fresh 11-year lows against the dollar on Thursday ahead of a European Central Bank meeting later in the day, where it was expected to outline the details of the bond purchasing stimulus program it announced in January.
EUR/USD hit lows of 1.1026, the weakest since September 2003, and was last at 1.1049, down 0.27% for the day.
ECB President Mario Draghi was expected to shed more light on how the bank will implement its large scale quantitative easing program later on Thursday, following the bank’s policy meeting.
The euro remained weaker despite data on Wednesday showing that euro area retail sales rose at the fastest rate in nine years in January and private sector activity expanded at the quickest rate in seven months in February.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.2% to fresh 11-year peaks of 96.31.
Data on Wednesday showed that U.S. service sector activity grew at a faster rate than expected in February, boosting expectations for higher interest rates.
Another report showed that the U.S. private sector added 212,000 jobs in February, falling short of expectations for an increase of 220,000.
Investors were turning their attention to Friday’s government nonfarm payrolls report for further indications on the future possible direction of monetary policy.
USD/JPY eased up to 119.84, not far from Tuesday’s three-week highs of 120.25, while EUR/JPY was near one-and-a-half month lows at 132.37.