Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against the other major currencies on Thursday, as growing expectations for the Federal Reserve to soon begin tapering its stimulus program supported the greenback, while investors eyed upcoming central bank statements. During European morning trade, the dollar edged higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.11% to 1.3192. The euro remained under pressure amid expectations that the European Central Bank will reiterate its pledge to keep rates on hold following its policy meeting, later Thursday. Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after upbeat U.S. manufacturing data on Tuesday reinforced expectations that the Fed could start to phase out stimulus measures as soon as this month. Investors were looking ahead to Friday’s highly-anticipated U.S. nonfarm payrolls report which is seen as key to the Fed’s decision on tapering. The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD easing 0.02% to .15620. The Bank of England was expected to keep monetary policy unchanged at the outcome of its policy meeting on Thursday. Last month, the BoE pledged to keep rates on hold at record lows until the U.K. unemployment rate falls below 7%, something the bank sees as unlikely to happen for another three years. Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY adding 0.11% to trade at 99.86, and with USD/CHF gaining 0.44% to 0.9395. At the end of its two-day policy meeting, the Bank of Japan said it will expand the monetary base at an annual pace of JPY60 trillion to JPY70 trillion, leaving policy unchanged. The central bank also upgraded its assessment of the economy, saying a moderate recovery is underway. The greenback was broadly higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD flat at 1.0494, AUD/USD retreating 0.34% to 0.9142 and NZD/USD sliding 0.41% to 0.7873. Official data earlier showed that Australia's trade balance unexpectedly swung into a deficit of AUD0.77 billion in July, from a downwardly revised surplus of AUD0.24 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to AUD0.05 billion in July. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.12% to 82.30. Investors remained cautious after the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution on authorizing limited U.S. military intervention in Syria. The full Senate is expected to vote on military action on September 9. Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the ADP nonfarm payrolls report on private sector job creation, as well as the weekly government report on initial jobless claims. In addition, the ISM was to release data on non-manufacturing activity in the U.S.

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