Forex - Dollar Remains Moderately Lower, Fed Minutes on Tap

The dollar remained moderately lower on Wednesday, as investors were eyeing the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting amid growing expectations for a December rate hike.

Trade volumes were expected to remain thin ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

Market participants were eyeing the minutes of the Fed's most recent policy meeting, due later Wednesday, as the report could offer clues on the pace of potential interest rate hikes.

In a speech late Tuesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank is "reasonably close" to its goals and should keep gradually raising interest rates to avoid the risk of letting inflation slip below target for too long and of pushing unemployment down too far.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.14% at 93.75 by 05:15 a.m. ET (09:15 GMT).

The euro edged higher, with EUR/USD up 0.14% at 1.1754, while GBP/USD held steady at 1.3249.

Sentiment on the euro remained fragile after German Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to form a government coalition on Sunday, when the Free Democrats Party (FDP) unexpectedly left the negociation table.

Merkel said on Monday that she would prefer a new election to a minority government. However, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that political parties owed it to voters to try to form a government.

In the UK, market participants were looking ahead to the government's latest budget, scheduled to be presented by Finance Minister Philip Hammond at 07:30 p.m. ET (11:30 GMT).

Elsewhere, USD/JPY slid 0.29% to 112.12, while USD/CHF edged down 0.18% to trade at 0.9894.

The Australian dollar was weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.28% at 0.7557, while NZD/USD held steady at 0.6825.

Earlier Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that construction work done climbed 15.7% in the third quarter, confounding expectations for a 2.3% decline.

Bloomberg

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