Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against a basket of other major currencies on Wednesday, as markets eyed the Federal Reserve's highly-anticipated policy statement due later in the trading session.
Market participants were eyeing Wednesday’s Fed statement to see if it would drop its reference to being patient before raising rates and signal that it is ready to hike rates depending on economic data.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.24% to 99.79, still close to Friday's highs of 100.78, the strongest since September 2003.
EUR/USD rose 0.30% to 1.0625.
The euro found support on Tuesday after data showed that German economic sentiment improved to the highest level in 13 months in March. The ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment rose to 54.8 this month from February’s reading of 53.0.
Another report showed that euro zone consumer price inflation fell 0.3% last month, in line with expectations and unchanged from a preliminary estimate. The rate remains firmly below the European Central Bank's target of near but just below 2%.
The dollar slipped lower against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY down 0.17% to 121.15 and with USD/CHF declining 0.44% to 1.0018.
Meanwhile, the dollar pushed higher against the pound, with GBP/USD sliding 0.50% to 1.4674.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics earlier said that the rate of unemployment was unchanged at 5.7% in the three months to January, disappointing expectations for a decline to 5.6%.
The report also showed that the claimant count fell 31,000 in February, compared to expectations for a decline of 30,000 people.
Data also showed that that the U.K. average earnings index, including bonuses, rose by 1.8% in the three months to January, missing forecasts for a gain of 2.2%.
In addition, the minutes of the Bank of England's most recent policy meeting showed that all nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee were in favor of leaving the key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and making no changes to the central bank's £375 billion asset-purchase program.
The New Zealand dollar was higher, with NZD/USD up 0.21% to 0.7322. Meanwhile, AUD/USD held steady at 0.7618 and USD/CAD was little changed at 1.2791.