WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar held firm against most major currencies on Wednesday with traders looking ahead to the monetary policy announcements from the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve.
While the ECB is scheduled to announce its policy on Thursday, the Fed's statement is due next week.
The dollar index rose to 98.75 by mid morning, and despite paring some gains subsequently, held well above the flat line till late afternoon, and was last seen trading at 98.62, up nearly 0.3% from Tuesday's close.
The Euro lost ground ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy statement, due on Thursday. The ECB is widely expected to announce additional stimulus to revive growth in the euro area.
The euro was down by about 0.3% against the dollar, with a unit of euro fetching $1.1013.
The dollar was up 0.23% against the sterling at 1.2329. At one stage this afternoon, the dollar had strengthened to 1.2312 a sterling.
The Japanese yen was weak as well against the dollar, with a unit of greenback fetching 107.86 yen, about 0.3% more than previous close of 107.54 yen a dollar.
The dollar was up marginally against Swiss franc at 0.9929, and down slightly against the Aussie at 0.6863.
Against the Canadian loonie, the dollar was up 0.32% at 1.3194.
In economic news, a report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday showed a modest uptick in U.S. producer prices in the month of August.
The report said producer price index for final demand inched up by 0.1% in August after rising by 0.2% in July. Economists had expected prices to come in unchanged.
Meanwhile, wholesale inventories in the U.S. showed a modest rebound in the month of July, rising 0.2%, after edging down by a revised 0.1% in June, according to a report released by the Commerce Department.
The Federal Reserve's policy announcement is due next week. With the central bank's chief reiterating recently that the bank will act 'as appropriate' to support economic expansion, markets hope for a reduction in interest rate.
Also, the U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted this morning that the 'Federal Reserve should get out interest rates down to Zero, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt.'
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