NEW YORK: The euro pushed higher against the dollar for the third straight session Wednesday, helped by Federal Reserve meeting minutes which showed the US central bank still firmly dovish.
But the pair remained in a narrow range, as did most major currencies amid continued stability in global rates.
The minutes to the Fed's June 17-18 policy meeting contained no surprises, but did confirm that the quantitative easing bond-purchase operations, in place since 2008 to hold interest rates down, will be wound up in October.
But on balance they showed the Fed less concerned about inflation and more about high unemployment and slow growth, including drag from slow economies in Europe and Asia.
"The dollar should have reacted positively to the prospect of QE ending in the beginning of Q4 and it did spike higher initially but 15 minutes after the Fed minutes were released, the dollar reversed course and gave up its gains," said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.
She tied the greenback's fall on the drop in Treasury yields following the release of the minutes, saying bond traders had expected more bullish signs for interest rates.
"Even after today's moves, we believe the losses will be limited because at the end of the day, nothing new was revealed in the minutes and the Fed is still crawling towards an eventual tightening of monetary policy."
The pound meanwhile was slightly higher ahead of a rate decision Thursday from a two-day Bank of England monetary policy meeting, expected to leave interest rates unchanged.
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