The dollar gained against most currencies on Thursday as traders pared their bets of an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve following Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's comment about US inflation. The pound slipped after the Bank of England lifted its growth forecasts but warned that Brexit continued to cloud the outlook for monetary policy.
Trading volume picked up as some European markets reopened after closing for May Day on Wednesday. Chinese and Japanese markets will remain closed for domestic holidays the rest of the week. The greenback proved resilient since Powell said at a news conference on Wednesday that the factors dragging on inflation might be "transitory" and he saw no case for a rate move in either direction.
"That took some of the air out of the rate-cut talk," said Minh Trang, senior currency trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California. "Still the market is biased toward a rate cut as the Fed's next move." Interest rate futures implied traders see about a 53% chance the Fed would lower key lending rates at year-end, down from 61% late on Wednesday, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.
At 10:04 a.m. (1404 GMT), an index that tracks the greenback against the euro, yen, sterling and three other currencies was up 0.174% at 97.784. The single currency was 0.12% lower at $1.1182 and little changed at 124.74 yen. Meanwhile, sterling retreated from a two-week high against the dollar as the BOE's decision to leave rates unchanged at 0.75% reinforced the view that UK policymakers are in no hurry to raise rates amid concerns about ongoing Brexit negotiations. The pound was down 0.16% at $1.3027, while the euro was up 0.09% at 85.83 pence.