The mood was not helped by First Republic Bank's continued slump, or the ongoing wrangling over an extension to the U.S. debt ceiling. Traders will look closely at the U.S. gross domestic product figures for the first quarter, due out later on Thursday, for any signs of a slowdown. Elsewhere in currency markets, the yen was in a holding pattern as the Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting, the first under new governor Kazuo Ueda. The dollar was up 0.08% at 133.79 yen. The market consensus is that Ueda will leave ultra-easy policy settings unchanged on Friday, but no one is willing to rule out another surprise like the shock doubling of the 10-year bond yield band in December. Sterling was flat at $1.247, retaining Wednesday's 0.48% advance. The euro was flat against Sweden's krona at 11.398, having rallied 0.79% on Wednesday after the Swedish central bank was less hawkish on inflation than expected. Australia's dollar was up 0.23% at $0.662. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates Euro vs dollar ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Harry Robertson in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Sam Holmes, Sonali Paul and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Kevin.Buckland@thomsonreuters.com)) By Harry Robertson and Kevin Buckland
LONDON/TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - The euro hovered near
a one-year high against the dollar on Thursday, as Europe's
resilient economy contrasted with banking risks and the debt
ceiling standoff in the United States.
It was last up 0.08% against the dollar at $1.104,
not far off yesterday's one-year peak of $1.1096.
The dollar index - which measures the greenback
against six major peers - was flat at 101.41. That followed a
0.39% slide the previous day.
Britain's pound and Japan's yen were little changed.
"We're looking for potentially a bit more of a challenging
environment for the U.S. dollar, which people have already
started to position for," said Carl Hammer, chief strategist at
European lender SEB.
"We have the debt ceiling coming up and U.S. inflation
moderating a few months before the euro zone."
The greenback has fallen more than 11% since hitting a
20-year high in September. Analysts say it has been driven by a
drop in U.S. inflation, the impending end of the Federal
Reserve's rate-hiking cycle, and Europe's outperformance.
Germany again revised up growth forecasts on Wednesday, and
a survey showed a continued pickup in consumer confidence.
By contrast, U.S. capital goods spending fell more than
expected in the latest data overnight, adding to jitters about a
downturn.
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