Investing.com - The dollar moved slightly higher against the other major currencies on Wednesday, as the previous session's U.S. housing sector data continued to support, while trading was expected to remain quiet with no major U.S. data to be released thoughout the day.
The dollar was steady against the euro, with EUR/USD at 1.1345.
The greenback strengthened mildly after the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that housing starts rose 6.5% to 1.206 million units last month from August’s total of 1.132 million units.
However, the report also showed that the number of building permits issued dropped by 5.0% to 1.103 million units from August’s total of 1.170 million.
Meanwhile, the single currency found some support ahead to the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday amid speculation that it could flag plans to enlarge its stimulus program.
The dollar was fractionally higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.08% at 119.94.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD at 1.5444 and was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.18% to 0.9578.
Sterling eased off a one-week trough against the dollar after the U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that public sector net borrowing fell to £8.63 billion in September from £10.79 billion in August, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated £11.31 billion.
Analysts had expected public sector net borrowing to decline to £9.40 billion last month.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD declining 0.69% to 0.7209 and with NZD/USD shedding 0.41% to 0.6723.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD rallied 0.92% to trade at two-week highs of 1.3106 after the Bank of Canada decided to hold its benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move, and downgraded its economic outlook citing the "complex" aftershocks of lower oil prices.
The BoC also said the Canadian economy will grow just 2% in 2016 and 2.5% in 2017, down from previous forecasts of 2.3% and 2.6%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.14% at 95.03, re-approaching Monday's one-week highs of 95.05.