• The U.S. dollar hovered near a 10-month low against a basket of currencies on Wednesday but investors were wary of pushing it lower before major central bank meetings.
Both the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are meeting this week and market watchers are wary that the recent strength in the euro and the yen may prompt them to strike a dovish stance, prompting a rebound in the dollar.
The dollar has come under pressure as Republican legislators' failure to pass a stalled healthcare bill raised fears for the rest of President Donald's Trump reform agenda.
The index which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged up 0.1 percent to 94.74 after falling as low as 94.476 on Tuesday, its lowest level since September 2016.
The euro inched 0.2 percent lower to $1.1534, after rising as high as $1.1583 on Tuesday, its highest since May 2016.
• The current weakness in the U.S. dollar may be short lived, as a pick-up in inflation and expected rate hikes by the Federal Reserve will support the greenback in the coming months, JPMorgan Asset Management said Wednesday.
• The United States slapped new economic sanctions against Iran on Tuesday over its ballistic missile programme and said Tehran's "malign activities" in the Middle East undercut any "positive contributions" coming from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord.
• The Bank of Japan will make no changes to the current monetary policy settings (the interest rate on the excess reserves (IOER) at - 0.10% and the 10Y JGB yield target at zero% ) and will also leave the "JPY80trln" language intact to describe the pace of increase in the balances of its JGB holdings. However, the language no longer means anything as the quantity of money has already become an endogenous variable rather than a policy variable.
• The ECB, keen to retain flexibility in case the outlook sours, is set to keep its asset purchases open-ended rather than setting a potentially distant date on which bond-buying will stop, three sources familiar with the discussion said.
The Bank of Japan will also conclude a policy meeting on Thursday. Policymakers are expected to raise their economic growth forecasts but cut their rosy inflation outlook, sources say, reinforcing expectations it will lag well behind major global central banks in dialling back its massive stimulus programme.
• British inflation unexpectedly slowed last month for the first time since October, dousing expectations among investors that the Bank of England might soon raise interest rates for the first time in a decade.
Consumer prices rose by 2.6 percent compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said, down from a nearly four-year high of 2.9 percent in May.
• Oil prices fell on Wednesday after a rise in U.S. crude inventories and ongoing high output from OPEC producers revived concerns of a fuel supply overhang.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $48.63 per barrel at 0656 GMT, down 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $46.20 per barrel, down 20 cents, or 0.4percent.
Reference: Reuters, ForexLive, CNBC
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