The euro firmed against the dollar on Thursday as traders await the European Central Bank’s plans for curbing its bond-buying program which is expected to be released later on Thursday. As of 12:40 p.m. HK/SIN, the euro was up 0.11 percent to $1.1824. The euro also posted gains against the pound and the Swiss franc in advance of the ECB meeting.
According to a Reuters poll of economists, the ECB is expected to unveil a plan to reduce its asset purchases to 40 billion euros per month as of January 2018. The ECB’s current spend is 60 billion euros per month. The ECB’s asset-buying program is set to conclude at the end of this year, though most analysts expect an announcement of an extension for either six or nine months into the future, which may be combined with a further reduction in monthly spend. In this case, analysts expect the policy will have little impact on the euro.
Oil Prices Struggle
Oil prices were under pressure during Thursday’s Asian session after data released on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories. According to the EIA, U.S. crude inventories rose by 856,000 barrels last week, a stark contrast to the decrease of 2.6 million barrels that analysts expected. U.S. WTI futures were down 0.17 percent to $52.09 per barrel in the middle of Thursday’s Asian session, and Brent crude futures dipped 0.14 percent to $58.36 per barrel.
Gasoline stocks declined by 5.5 million barrels last week, though analysts had expected a 17,000 barrel drop.