By Michael Kitchen and Saumya Vaishampayan, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The euro ticked higher in Wednesday trading, with investors looking ahead to the following day’s European Central Bank policy decision, though some analysts suggest near-term downside for the currency. The euro EURUSD +0.2692% firmed to $1.3509 from $1.3475 late Tuesday in North America. Crédit Agricole analysts, however, said the shared currency could move lower as the day moves on, given expectations of some sort of easing from the ECB this year. “Selling pressure upon [the euro] should persist today as consensus ECB expectations tighten their focus upon December policy accommodation. Notwithstanding this tightening, it remains too early for most to consider an even bolder policy move at tomorrow’s ECB meeting,� they wrote to clients early Wednesday. The British pound GBPUSD +0.25% was also higher, rising to $1.6088 from $1.6047 to extend its gain of almost a penny on Tuesday after a surprise increase for a key gauge of the U.K.’s services sector. BK Asset Management forex strategy managing director Boris Schlossberg wrote Tuesday that sterling could make a run at the $1.61 handle and, “for now, it has found clear support above $1.6000 and is likely to hold that figure for the time being.� The ICE dollar index DXY -0.26% , which measures the currency against six rivals, slipped to 80.545 from late Tuesday’s 80.709. Likewise, the WSJ Dollar Index XX:BUXX -0.14% eased to 72.81 from 72.94. Crédit Agricole said further falls for the dollar could be in store following the release of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate for October, due at the end of the week. “Uncertainty surrounding Friday’s U.S. payrolls release could prompt short-term dollar profit-taking� if the results are as weak as some fear. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect October nonfarm payrolls to rise 100,000 after a 148,000 increase in September, with the unemployment rate ticking higher to 7.4% from 7.2% In other action, Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.18% rose to 95.23 U.S. cents from 94.93 U.S. cents, recovering the 95-cent level after dipping below it as Reserve Bank of Australia Gov. Glenn Stevens said the unit was “still uncomfortably high.� The dollar USDJPY +0.15% bought ¥98.66, slightly more than ¥98.58 late the previous day. Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles. You can follow him on Twitter at @KitchenNews. Saumya Vaishampayan is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York. You can find her on Twitter @saumvaish.

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