The euro remained wobbly before the ECB meeting on Thursday. The ECB is facing growing pressure to address how to protect the euro zone economy from a protracted slowdown.
The dollar index versus a group of six major currencies was 0.05 percent higher at 96.726 after going as high as 96.816 the previous day, its strongest since Feb. 19.
The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.1326 . It had brushed an 11-day low of $1.1309 on Monday.
· “The ECB meeting is unlikely to provide big surprises, but the euro is getting top heavy as the central bank, after all, is expected to strike a dovish tone,” said Shin Kadota, senior strategist at Barclays.
The dollar rose 0.15 percent to 111.92 yen, bouncing back from losses suffered the previous day.
Against a broadly firmer greenback, the Australian dollar was down 0.2 percent at $0.7077, cancelling out modest gains made overnight on expectations for further easing of trade tensions between the United States and China.
· U.S. President Donald Trump looked set to open a new front in his trade wars on Monday with a plan to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for upto $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.
India played down the impact of the move, saying it was keeping retaliatory tariffs out of its talks with the U.S., but the opposition could seize on the issue to embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of general elections this year.
Trump, who has vowed to cut U.S. trade deficits, has repeatedly called out India for its high tariffs, and U.S. trade officials said scrapping the concessions would take at least 60 days after notifications to Congress and the Indian government.
India’s exports of farm, marine and handicraft products to the United States could be hit by U.S. plans to end a preferential trade treatment to the country in the next two months, an official at India’s main exporters’ body said on Tuesday.
· China will cut billions of dollars in taxes and fees, increase infrastructure investment, and step up lending to small firms as the government boosts stimulus to shore up an economy growing at its slowest pace in almost30 years.
The government is targeting economic growth of 6.0 to 6.5 percent in 2019, Premier Li Keqiang said at Tuesday’s opening of the annual meeting of China’s parliament, less than the 6.6 percent gross domestic product growth reported last year.
“A smaller target means the government acknowledged the downside risks that are most likely coming from trade tensions with the United States and sectors involving small- and medium-sized companies,” said Raymond Yeung, Greater China chief economist at ANZ Research.
· Oil prices fell on Tuesday as China cut its 2019 economic growth target, dimming the outlook for fuel demand, although OPEC-led efforts to cut output still offered some support.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $56.31 per barrel at 0740 GMT, down 28 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their last settlement.
Brent crude futures were at $65.37 per barrel, down 30 cents, or 0.5 percent.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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