By 2130, the European currency was up 0.05 per cent at $1.1421.
The euro was appreciating modestly on Wednesday against a dollar weakened by the slight fall in US bond yields, in a market with no clear direction on the eve of US inflation figures.
At about 2030 GMT, the euro was up 0.05 percent at $1.1421.
“The euro held around its highs for the year, still buoyed by more aggressive policy guidance from the European Central Bank (ECB) that led markets to consider rates moving up there sooner,” said Joe Manimbo of Western Union.
Indeed, the ECB signaled on Thursday after its monetary policy meeting that it no longer considers inflation to be “transitory,” prompting investors to bet on a further tightening of its monetary policy in 2022.
However, the dollar retained its weekly gains against the euro, the Western Union analyst pointed out, while all eyes are on the US inflation index (CPI), which will be published on Thursday morning.
Rates on ten-year Treasury bills were falling a bit, to 1.93 percent from 1.96 percent a day earlier, a two-year high.
Investors expect that the December record (+7% for consumer prices, a record since June 1982) will be broken again, which may prompt the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to accelerate the tightening of its monetary policy. Stronger interest rates make the greenback more profitable.
That is why, according to Joe Manimbo, “the euro’s prospects in the medium and long term remain fragile, given that the market expects the Fed to raise rates faster than the ECB”.
On the cryptocurrency side, bitcoin was oscillating between positive and negative territory to advance 0.73% to 44.551 dollars at 20:30 GMT.