The dollar fell against the euro on Thursday on jitters that the recent rally on expectations of higher US interest rates had gone too far and fears that stronger inflation could crimp growth.
But analysts said the euro's move higher could be tempered after a news conference to be held at 1230 GMT, following the European Central Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged at 2.0 percent, as expected.
All 69 economists polled by Reuters last week saw the ECB leaving rates on hold but 62 of 67 saw the next ECB rate change as a hike, though none expected a rate hike this year.
"I have a hunch that the expectations about a hawkish press conference and comments from (ECB President) Trichet may have been a little bit excessive," Derek Halpenny, currency economist at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, said.
"A hawkish statement at the press conference may have been fully priced into the market and the risks are that euro/dollar could go the other way," he added.
The dollar had taken a hit on Wednesday after a gauge of the US service sector showed growth slowed in September in the wake of devastating hurricanes.
By 1151 GMT, the euro was up 0.71 percent on the day at $1.2057, moving away from this week's three-month low around $1.1900.
On the data front, German manufacturing orders fell by a bigger-than-expected 3.7 percent in seasonally adjusted terms in August, following months of strong growth.
The dollar was flat at 113.88 yen, with gains in the Japanese currency kept in check by a sharp fall in Tokyo stock prices. The dollar cleared a 16-month high of 114.42 yen this week.
Sterling was up almost 0.4 percent at $1.7688, little moved after the Bank of England left rates unchanged at 4.5 percent.
Talk that Venezuela was moving its reserves out of US Treasuries also weighed on the dollar.
A Venezuelan central bank director, Domingo Maza Zavala, was quoted in the Financial Times newspaper on Thursday as saying the country had transferred a large part of its $30.4 billion foreign reserves out of US Treasuries over the last four months.
Reuters reported on Monday, in an interview with Maza, that Venezuela had reduced the amount of US Treasuries in its reserves.
Traders said that market players closed long-dollar positions after the currency's run higher this week and ahead of US payroll figures on Friday.
Economists surveyed by Reuters expected to see a loss of 129,000 jobs in September as layoffs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina offset gains in the rest of the country.
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