The U.S. dollar continued to be on weak footing against major rivals Wednesday amid a cautious tone in financial markets.
The euro rose to $1.3664 from $1.3637 on Tuesday and the dollar slipped to 95.70 yen from 96.04 yen.
The dollar has now dropped for three straight sessions against the euro and three of the last four vs. the yen.
However, the dollar index (DXY 81.90, -0.08, -0.10%) , a measure of the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up marginally to 82.115.
"Markets had a slightly more cautious tone on Wednesday with high-yield currencies unable to extend recent gains," said analysts from Investica Ltd. in a note to clients.
The key data release came from Japan, where figures showed the Japanese economy contracting at an annualized 15% rate during the first quarter. See story.
The Japanese data was nonetheless better than economists had forecast.
Meanwhile, minutes showed the Bank of England voted unanimously at its last meeting to keep interest rates at 0.5% and extend its asset purchase plan to 125 billion pounds, an increase of 50 billion pounds.
The minutes showed that there was also talk of expanding the plan to buy government bonds by 75 billion pounds.
"The minutes suggest that the Committee's bias, such as there was one, was towards expanding the asset purchase program further," said analysts at Barclays Capital in a note to clients.
Minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting are due at 2 p.m. Eastern, which may show "members were slightly less negative about growth prospects, underpinning interest rates at historic lows and asset purchases by the Fed," according to analysts at Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets in a note to clients.
