Forexpros - The U.S. dollar was steady to lower against the other major currencies on Wednesday, as demand for higher yielding, riskier assets continued to be supported by prospects for action from the European Central Bank to ease the debt crisis in the euro zone.
During European morning trade, the dollar was little changed close to a seven-week low against the euro, with EUR/USD inching up 0.01% to 1.2472.
The euro continued to be supported by speculation that the ECB will soon implement policy measures to help stabilize the euro zone's sovereign debt markets.
Investors were also looking ahead to a meeting between Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the euro zone’s finance ministers, and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras later in the day to discuss a two-year extension of the country’s economic reform program.
The greenback was trading close to a three-month low against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.16% to 1.5811.
Elsewhere, the greenback was slightly higher against the yen, with USD/JPY easing up 0.11% to hit 79.35.
In Japan, official data earlier showed that exports fell to the lowest level in six months in July, as the euro zone’s debt crisis and a slowdown in China hit demand.
Japan posted a trade deficit of JPY0.33 trillion in July, up from a JPY0.30 trillion deficit the previous month, compared to an expected deficit of JPY0.46 trillion.
The dollar was steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF dipping 0.02% to 0.9628.
The greenback was marginally higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD inching up 0.08% to hit 0.9846, AUD/USD sliding 0.30% to 1.0457 and NZD/USD dipping 0.08% to trade at 0.8101.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, eased down 0.05% to 81.89.
Market participants were looking ahead to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s August policy meeting later Wednesday, amid speculation over how close the U.S. central bank may be to implementing another round of stimulus measures.
In addition, the U.S. was to release industry data on existing home sales.
