The US dollar fell to a two-month low against major currencies on Wednesday after weaker-than-expected US economic reports reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will maintain its stimulative monetary policy. The Fed ends its two-day policy meeting later in the day and is widely expected to keep its monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds to support an economic recovery that's showing signs of losing momentum.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency's value against a basket of currencies, dropped as low as 81.331, its weakest since February 25. It was last at 81.608, down 0.2 percent.
Weakness in the dollar helped drive the euro to a two-month high despite growing expectations the European Central Bank will cut interest rates on Thursday. With the May Day holiday keeping most of Europe's markets closed, the euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3193. It had earlier risen to $1.3242, according to Reuters data, its highest level since February 25.
Against the yen, the dollar slipped 0.2 percent to 97.25 yen. The pound rose to its highest against the dollar since mid-February at $1.5597, helped by a better-than-expected UK manufacturing survey. The Australian dollar fell 0.8 percent to $1.0282 after data showed growth in China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly slowed.
Comments
Comments are closed.