Dollar steady before Fed meeting

The dollar was trading in narrow ranges against the other main currencies on Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting later in the trading day.

During European morning trade, the euro inched higher against the dollar, with EUR/USD edging up 0.08% to 1.3757, holding back from last Friday’s 23 month highs of 1.3831.

The Fed was not expected to announce any change to its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program on Wednesday.

Many investors instead expect the Fed to maintain its stimulus program well into the first quarter of next year, in order to safeguard the fragile U.S. economic recovery in the wake of this month’s 16-day government shutdown.

In the euro zone, data released on Wednesday showed that Spain’s economy emerged from a recession in the third quarter, for the first time since 2011. Spain’s economy expanded 0.1% in the three months to September, following a 0.1% contraction in the previous quarter.

A separate report showed that the annual rate of consumer inflation in Spain fell by 0.1% in the third quarter.

The dollar was little changed close to a one-week high against the yen, with USD/JPY easing up 0.04% to 98.23. 

Elsewhere, the dollar was slightly lower against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD up 0.12% to 1.6065 and USD/CHF slipping 0.11% to 0.8980.

The greenback was lower against its Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with AUD/USD rising 0.33% to 0.9511 and NZD/USD climbing 0.32% to 0.8280. 

The greenback was also lower against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD edging down 0.16% to 1.0452.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, edged up 0.13% to 79.50.

The U.S. was to release data on private sector payrolls for October later Wednesday, ahead of the U.S. nonfarm report, due for release on November 8, as well as a report on consumer inflation.