Investing.com - The dollar pushed lower against other major currencies on Thursday, as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting and upbeat U.S. manufacturing activity data did little to help the faltering greenback.
The U.S. dollar briefly recovered after Fed policymakers acknowledged, in the minutes of the Fed's December meeting released Wednesday, that the U.S. labor market and economic activity remain strong, despite persistently low inflation.
The minutes seemed to suggest that the central bank will continue to raise rates gradually but the pace could pick up if inflation rises.
Separately, the Institute of Supply Management said its manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 59.7 last month from 58.2 in November, confounding expectations for a downtick to 58.1.
Market watchers were now looking ahead to U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.17% at 91.73 by 05:25 a.m. ET (09:25 GMT).
The euro and the pound remained higher, with EUR/USD up 0.23% at 1.2044 and with GBP/USD adding 0.21% to 1.3544.
Earlier Thursday, data showed that UK consumer lending slowed to its weakest since 2015 in the three months to November, while service sector activity picked up in November.
The yen was almost unchanged, with USD/JPY at 112.57, while USD/CHF slipped 0.11% to 0.9761.
Elsewhere, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.11% at 0.7844 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.39% to 0.7120.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged down 0.12% to 1.2523.