The euro showed mixed trading in early deals on Wednesday ahead of today's closely watched U.S. FOMC decision and Chairman Ben Bernanke's accompanying press conference.
While the common currency drifted higher against the Swiss franc, it held steady against the dollar and the yen. Against the pound, it erased Asian session's gains in early deals on Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its post meeting policy statement at 2:00 pm ET. This will be followed by the release of the FOMC forecasts at 2:00 pm and Bernanke's press conference at 2:30 pm ET.
Bernanke's is expected to reassure the markets, which went about a wild swing in the aftermath of his May 22nd Congressional testimony. The Fed is expected to scale back its quantitative easing program only when the labor market becomes stable and the inflation reaches in comfort zones.
Greek Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras said that the country has made notable progress in negotiations with its international creditors on the next bailout installment. The twice-bailed out-euro member is now awaiting the next slice of loan installment from the troika.
Eurozone's construction output increased in April, reversing March's decline, the latest figures from Eurostat revealed. Production in construction rose 2 percent month-on-month in April following a 1.8 percent fall in March and a 1.3 percent increase in February.
Elsewhere, Switzerland's economic confidence remained unchanged in June, a monthly survey by the Centre for European Economic Research in cooperation with Credit Suisse showed today. The ZEW-CS Indicator of economic expectations stayed unchanged at 2.2 points in June.
The minutes of the Bank of England's most recent policy meeting showed that six members of the monetary policy committee overturned Governor Mervyn King's call for additional stimulus, saying the current policy setting is appropriate.
Members said further purchases could lead to an unwarranted narrowing in risk premia and complicate the transition to a more normal monetary policy stance at some point in the future.
Japan's Ministry of Finance reported that Japan had a trade deficit of 933.92 billion yen in May, not so worse as the 1.22 trillion yen shortfall expected by economists. Exports climbed a solid 10 percent year-over-year, beating expectations for a 6.4 percent increase, while imports also rose 10 percent.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said today that financial markets may gradually regain stability, reflecting the steady improvement in Japanese economic activity.
He said the rise in some market indicators of inflation expectations has come to a pause. However, other indicators including the surveys conducted on households and economists suggested a rise on the whole, Kuroda told lawmakers.
The euro failed to sustain momentum above the 1.34 level against the dollar and the pair moved in an extensive consolidation pattern since the beginning of the day's deals, ranging between 1.3384 and 1.3410.
The common currency halted its Asian session's downtrend against the yen and has been moving sideways since the beginning of the European deals. The euro-yen pair traded in a range between 127.47 and 127.04.
The shared unit also stuck in lengthy ranges against the pound in early deals, swinging back and forth between 0.8549 and 0.8579. The euro, however, staged a rebound to 1.2339 against the Swiss franc around 7:05 am ET from previous low of 1.2310.
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