Investing.com - The dollar moved lower against the other majors currencies on Thursday, as investors awaited the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision, as well as the Federal Reserve’s highly-anticipated meeting next week.
EUR/USD gained 0.37% to 1.0794.
Later Thursday, the ECB is likely to announce an extension of its €80 billion a month quantitative easing program, which is on track to end in March 2017, but may also signal that a decision on when it will begin tapering asset purchases will come soon.
The single currency tumbled to 20-month lows on Monday after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's referendum defeat and subsequent confirmation that he would resign.
But the euro quickly rebounded as fears over the political risk factors for Italy appeared to have been overstated.
Meanwhile, sentiment on the greenback became more fragile ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD advanced 0.53% to trade at 1.2693, not far from Tuesday’s nine-week highs of 1.2776.
The pound had rallied on Tuesday after Chancellor Philip Hammond said the British government would not rule out the possibility of continuing to make payments into the European Union budget after Brexit in order to retain access to the single market.
USD/JPY slid 0.33% to 113.395, while USD/CHF shed 0.27% to 1.0048.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.23% at 0.7496 and with NZD/USD climbing 0.59% to 0.7208.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the country’s trade deficit widened to A$1.541 billion in October from A$1.272 billion in September. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to A$0.800 billion in October.
At the same time, data showed that China’s imports increased at an annualized rate of 6.7% last month, while exports ticked up 0.1%.
China is Australia’s biggest export partner and New Zealand’s second biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, the kiwi found some support after Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler said the ‘trend’ of lower interest rates, asset price appreciation and a high New Zealand dollar 'may finally be turning', encouraging investors to believe that last month’s rate cut may be the last one for some time.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged down 0.14% to 1.3219.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.37% at 99.91, the lowest since November 15.