• The dollar traded below a six-week high against the yen on Wednesday, as the market awaited the Federal Reserve's policy statement for hints on the U.S. interest rate outlook, while the kiwi strengthened after strong New Zealand jobs data.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, but investors will look to see whether the central bank downplays the recent soft patch in the economy to leave the door open for a rate increase in June.
The dollar last traded at 112.02 yen JPY=, still not very far from a six-week high of 112.33 yen set on Tuesday.
The euro held steady at $1.0930 EUR=, trading within sight of a 5-1/2 month high of $1.0951 scaled last week.
• Voters in Japan are deeply divided over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's campaign to revise its 70-year-old pacifist constitution, according to a poll released on Wednesday, against a backdrop of growing tension in the region, particularly over North Korea.
About 46 percent of respondents favoured keeping the constitution as it is, four percentage points lower than a similar poll last year.
The number favouring a change stood at 45 percent, up five percentage points from a year ago.
• Britain will not be paying 100 billion euros (84.58 billion pounds) to leave the European Union, Brexit minister David Davis said on Wednesday after the Financial Times reported that the EU was preparing to demand that amount.
• U.S. crude stocks fell last week, and both gasoline and distillate inventories also dropped, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed on Tuesday.
Crude inventories fell by 4.2 million barrels in the week ended April 28 to 528.3 million barrels, compared with analyst expectations for a decrease of 2.3 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 215,000 barrels, API said.
• Crude oil prices bounced back on Wednesday as a decline in U.S. inventories underpinned the market, although a dip in compliance with OPEC efforts to reduce output and near record supplies capped gains.
The benchmark for global oil market, Brent futures LCOc1 gained 47 cents, or 0.9 percent to $50.93 a barrel by 0641 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 37 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $48.02 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters
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