TOKYO: The euro ticked lower against the dollar Thursday as investors focus on a meeting of the European Central Bank that is expected to see it unveil more stimulus to shore up the stumbling eurozone economy.
ECB boss Mario Draghi has come under pressure to deliver measures that will break years of weak inflation and sagging economic growth after his last attempts were criticised as falling short.
Among the moves being considered are a cut in interest rates further into negative territory, an increase in bond-buying -- effectively printing more cash to stimulate growth -- and an extension of the current asset-purchase past its March 2017 timeframe.
"Tonight the devil will be in the details," National Australia Bank said in a commentary, referring to the meeting.
"In theory, further stimulus from the ECB should be risk positive and should weaken the euro. However, given question marks over the effectiveness of unorthodox policy measures, uncertainty is pretty high."
The euro slipped to $1.0974 from $1.1001 in New York, while it edged up to 124.82 yen from 124.69 yen.
The dollar rose to 113.74 yen from 113.35 yen
The Bank of Japan holds a policy meeting next week, with speculation swirling that it may further loosen its own monetary policy.
The New Zealand dollar tanked more than two percent against its US counterpart after the nation's central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates to counter lower inflation.
But most other emerging market currencies were buoyed by a broadly upbeat outlook across Asia Thursday as investors bet on ECB easing.
The South Korean won tacked on 0.66 percent after the Bank of Korea on Thursday kept a key interest rate unchanged for a ninth month, while the Malaysian ringgit climbed 0.26 percent and Indonesia's rupiah advanced 0.22 percent.
The Singapore dollar, Thai baht and Philippine peso also rose.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.