FX:Dollar broadly lower as ECB, BoE announcements eyed
Forexpros - The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, as investors looked ahead to policy decisions by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England later in the day, while Wednesday’s upbeat U.S. data eased concerns over the outlook for the global economic recovery.
During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.24% to 1.2937.
Market sentiment continued to be underpinned by speculation that Spain will soon request a bailout and trigger a bond buying program by the ECB, which investors hope will ease the debt crisis in the region.
Earlier Thursday, Spain saw borrowing costs fall at an auction of government bonds, with the yield on five-year bonds falling to 4.76% from 6.45% last month.
The ECB was not expected to announce any changes to monetary policy following its meeting later in the session.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.22% to 1.6111.
The BoE was not expected to announce any changes to monetary policy at the conclusion of its policy meeting later in the day, but expectations that the bank could ease policy next month mounted amid growing concerns over the faltering U.K. economy.
Elsewhere, the greenback was fractionally higher against the yen, with USD/JPY inching up 0.07% to 78.54, but slipped lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.23% to 0.9363.
The greenback was mixed against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD losing 0.14% to trade at 0.9861, AUD/USD dipping 0.02% to 1.0212 and NZD/USD easing up 0.12% to 0.8203.
In Australia, official data showed that building approvals climbed 6.5% in August, outstripping expectations for a 4.7% increase.
A separate report showed that Australian retail sales rose by 0.2% in August, less than the expected 0.4% increase.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.25% to 79.86.
Market participants were also looking the weekly U.S. government report on initial jobless claims and the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting.
