Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was down against other major currencies on Thursday, ahead of key interest rate decisions by both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD gaining 0.76% to hit 1.2074 ahead of the European Central Bank’s key interest rate decision, to be announced later in the day. The greenback was also down against sterling, with GBP/USD gaining 0.45% to hit 1.4596 as traders awaited the Bank of England’s benchmark interest rate announcement. Meanwhile, the greenback was also down against its Australian and New Zealand counterparts with AUD/USD advancing 1.75% to hit 0.8425 and NZD/USD surging 2.09% to hit 0.6814. The Aussie rose after official data showed that a larger-than-expected number of jobs were created in Australia in May. The kiwi’s rise, meanwhile, came after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked interest rates on Wednesday. The greenback was also down against its Canadian counterpart, with USD/CAD shedding 0.76% to hit 1.0367 as crude oil prices spurred demand for the loonie. In addition, the dollar slid versus the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF gaining 0.53% to hit 1.1425. The greenback also fell against the yen, with USD/JPY shedding 0.80% to hit 110.22 as Japan revised up its gross domestic product from 4.9% to 5% in the first quarter of 2010. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.61%. Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on its trade balance and release closely watched weekly data on initial jobless claims. Also Thursday, the U.S. government was to publish a report on the monthly Federal budget balance.

Source