Investing.com - The dollar remained higher against other major currencies on Wednesday, helped by the release of upbeat U.S. employment data, although investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision due later in the day.
EUR/USD slipped 0.25% to 1.0770, off Tuesday’s seven-week highs of 1.0814.
Payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by 246,000 last month, easily surpassing forecasts for an increase of 165,000. The economy created 153,000 jobs in December.
The greenback had tumbled on Tuesday, after Donald Trump’s top trade adviser accused Germany of currency exploitation, saying it is using a “grossly undervalued” euro to exploit the U.S. and its trading partners.
In separate remarks, President Trump criticized Japan and China, saying they devalued their currencies to the disadvantage of the U.S.
The remarks indicated that the dollar exchange rate could have a prominent role to play in Trump's 'America First' agenda.
The single currency showed little reaction to an earlier report showed that German manufacturing growth accelerated to its fastest pace in three years in January.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD gained 0.52% to trade at 1.2647.
Earlier Wednesday, market research group Markit said its U.K. manufacturing purchasing managers’ index slipped to 55.9 last month from a reading of 56.1 in December, in line with expectations.
USD/JPY climbed 0.62% to 113.50, after hitting a two-month low of 112.04 on Tuesday, while USD/CHF edged up 0.19% to trade at 0.9912.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.17% at 0.7574 and with NZD/USD retreating 0.63% to 0.7267.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD gained 0.31% to trade at 1.3070.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.19% at 99.72, off the previous session’s nearly three-month low of 99.40.