Investing.com – The dollar traded roughly flat against a basket of major currencies ahead of the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision due later.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.12% to 88.91
Following its two-day meeting, which concludes Wednesday, the Federal Reserve releases its monetary policy decision 2 p.m. ET amid expectations for an unchanged rate decision.
With no press conference slated to follow the monetary policy decision, the accompanying policy statement is expected to be carefully parse for clues on whether growing US economic growth and improving inflation has strengthen sentiment among fed members for a faster pace of rate hikes.
According to investing.com’s “Fed Rate Monitor Tool”, just 5.2% of traders expect the Federal Reserve to hike rates on Wednesday.
Housing data, meanwhile, had a muted impact on the greenback, as the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales rose 0.5% to 110.1 in December, matching economists’ forecasts.
On the labor market front, private payrolls grew by 234,000 for the month, a slight decline from the 242,000 increase in December, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP and Moody's Analytics. That beat economists’ forecasts for 186,000 increase.
EUR/USD gained 0.24% to $1.2433 as Eurozone inflation data rose 1.3% year-on-year in January, in line with economists’ forecasts but below the European Central Bank’s target of about 2%.
GBP/USD rose 0.37% to $1.4196, while USD/JPY gained 0.45% to Y109.26
USD/CAD fell 0.25% Canada gross domestic product rebounded 0.4% in November after the flat reading in October.