Dollar weakens ahead of Fed meeting

Dollar weakens ahead of Fed meeting


The dollar weakened against other major currencies on Monday (Tuesday morning GMT ) , ahead of a key meeting of the Federal Reserve that will provide clarity as to whether the U.S. central bank would announce its stimulus program cuts .

At 2200 GMT , the euro exchange rate rose to 1.3761 dollars from 1.3742 dollars on Friday . The value of the U.S. dollar also weakened to 103.02 yen, while the euro fell to 141.77 yen from 141.88 yen, as reported by AFP news agency .

The dollar index , which tracks the value of the dollar against six major currencies , slipped 0.1 percent to 80.10 .

The Fed will start a two-day meeting on Tuesday . Market analysts generally believe the Fed will begin to reduce its quantitative easing program no later than March 2014 .

But the number of analysts are betting the Fed will take a small reduction in bond purchases after a meeting on Wednesday ( 18/12 ) also increased .

" For more than a week , the possibility of ' tapering ' the Fed has increased . U.S. budget deal and improved retail sales during November were among the catalytic reduction of stimulus change in sentiment will take place at the meeting ( the Fed ) December , " according to analysts at Nomura notes .

U.S. economic data bring positive sentiment on Monday . U.S. industrial production jumped 1.1 percent in November , the largest increase in a year according to the Fed report released Monday.

In late New York trading , the euro rose to 1.3764 dollars from 1.3734 dollars in the previous session and the British pound rose to 1.6302 dollars from 1.6295 dollars .

The U.S. dollar bought 102.99 yen in Japan , down from 103.22 yen in the previous session . The greenback moved down to 0.8871 Swiss franc from 0.8901 Swiss franc and weakened to 1.0587 Canadian dollar from 1.0592 Canadian dollar .