Dollar mixed as dealers await data

The greenback was unsettled after the Fed gave no indication that it was considering raising super-low interest rates any time soon.

In late morning London deals on Thursday, the euro slipped to 1.4845 dollars compared with 1.4865 dollars late in New York on Wednesday.

In London on Thursday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4845 dollars against 1.4865 dollars late on Wednesday, at 133.82 yen (134.91), 0.8976 pounds (0.8979) and 1.5107 Swiss francs (1.5100).

In regional Asian trade, the dollar sank to 1,178.85 South Korean won from 1,180.90 on Wednesday, to 1.3962 Singapore dollars from 1.3978, to 9,475 Indonesian rupiah from 9,547, and to 33.40 Thai baht from 33.44. The greenback also fell to 47.55 Philippine pesos from 47.70 while holding steady at 32.54 Taiwan dollars.

“All traders will be focused on the pending Bank of England and European Central Bank rate decisions due out at 1200 GMT and 1245 GMT respectively,” said Brian Dolan, strategist at online trading site Forex.com.

Most analysts expect no change in the level of interest rates in Europe, but markets will be watching closely for clues about an eventual tightening of monetary policy.

The BoE will also decide whether to inject billions of extra pounds into the British economy to help get it out of its longest recession on record.

Some economists expect that the committee will decide to extend its quantitative easing plans, under which it creates money by buying bonds from commercial institutions to try and kick-start lending.

The BoE has so far created 175 billion pounds (196 billion euros, 287 billion dollars) in new cash to boost lending to businesses and individuals.

“As markets prepared for the BoE and ECB rate decisions traders dumped out of their riskier positions and pushed the yen and the dollar higher,” added Dolan.

The ECB, meeting in Frankfurt, is widely expected to left its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.0 percent.

The Fed held its key lending rate steady in a range of zero to 0.25 percent on Wednesday, and said that “although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time,” its policy actions would support recovery.

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