On Wednesday the euro was lower against the dollar after the
European Central Bank left monetary policy unchanged, as markets expected
the bank’s post-policy meeting press conference.
EUR/USD was at 1.0581 from around 1.0598 ahead of the policy announcement.
The euro was also weaker against the yen, with EUR/JPY at 126.51 from 126.56 earlier.
The ECB said it was maintaining its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.05%, in line with market expectations. The central bank also held its marginal lending at 0.30% and left its deposit facility rate unchanged at minus 0.20%.
Market players expect further comments by ECB president Mario Draghi on how the bank's €1.1 trillion quantitative easing program influenced the region's economy at the press conference.
The sentiment on the greenback was higher as the dollar regained ground lost in the previous session after a downbeat U.S. retail sales report. Data indicated that U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% in March, missing expectations for a 1.0% gain.
The data spurred speculation that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
