The dollar remained steady against other major global currencies on Wednesday as investors brace themselves for the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. dollar against six other major currencies, remained largely unchanged, hovering around 103.15. The index has remained in the region of 102.75-103.75 since early June.
Against the euro, the dollar remained stagnant, with the European currency coming in at $1.088. The sterling edged lower against the dollar to $1.2698.
Following its rise to 145.07 against the yen last week, the dollar cooled slightly against the Japanese currency to 144.3 yen. Still, the greenback continues to remain near the figure that prompted intervention from Japanese authorities last fall.
Shusuke Yamada, chief forex and rates strategist at Bank of America in Tokyo offered the following observation with regard to the yen.
“The market is paying attention to the potential risk of intervention, but as a medium-term trend, the market is looking for further downside for the yen.”
Yamada added that Bank of America doesn’t believe that there is a high probability that the Japanese Ministry of Finance will intervene as it did last year unless the dollar moves toward the 150 yen mark.