Dollar mixed vs. rivals in cautious trade ahead of U.S. data

The dollar was mixed against the other major currencies on Thursday, as markets were jittery ahead of a string of U.S. economic reports to be released later in the day, as well as policy statements by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

During European morning trade, USD/JPY slipped 0.25% to 102.10.

Investors were also eyeing the release of a key U.S. jobs report on Friday, after a string of positive data over the week added to expectations the Federal Reserve will soon begin tapering its montly asset purchases.

Elsewhere, EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.3598. 

The ECB was widely expected to hold off any fresh policy action later Thursday, but comments by central bank president Mario Draghi will be closely watched for indications on the ECB's future policy moves.

The pound edged lower against the dollar, with GBP/USD down 0.19% to 1.6353. 

The dollar was little changed against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHFeasing 0.01% to 0.9023.

The greenback was mixed to higher against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with AUD/USD shed 0.27% to 0.9006, NZD/USDslipping 0.18% to 0.8182 and USD/CAD edging down 0.07% to 1.0676.

The Aussie came under pressure after official data earlier showed that Australia's trade deficit widened to AUD0.53 billion in October, from AUD0.27 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to AUD0.38 billion.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02% to 80.60.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a revised estimate of third quarter gross domestic product, as well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims and data on factory orders.