The U.S. dollar advanced against its major counterparts on Thursday, as the Fed acknowledged stronger growth and indicated confidence about inflation, warranting case for "further gradual" rate hikes.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, as expected, but signaled that inflation would "move up" in 2018.

That change of language increased expectations that the central bank is on track to increase the benchmark rate at its next meeting, in late March.

"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a solid rate," the statement read.

"Gains in employment, household spending, and business fixed investment have been solid, and the unemployment rate has stayed low."

All important U.S. nonfarm payrolls data is due on Friday, which could shed cues on the health of the labor market of world's largest economy.

The greenback advanced to 1.4160 against the pound and 0.9340 against the franc, from its early lows of 1.4213 and 0.9305, respectively. If the greenback rises further, it may target resistance around 1.39 against the pound and 0.95 against the franc.

Reversing from its early lows of 1.2429 against the euro and 109.10 against the yen, the greenback hit a 2-day high of 1.2386 and a 6-day high of 109.63, respectively. The greenback is seen finding resistance around 1.21 against the euro and 111.00 against the yen

The greenback strengthened to a 6-day high of 0.8007 against the aussie, from a low of 0.8067 hit at 7:00 pm ET. Continuation of the greenback's uptrend may see it challenging resistance around the 0.79 region.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia building approvals fell a seasonally adjusted 20.0 percent on month in December, coming in at 16,891.

That missed forecasts for a decline of 7.6 percent following the upwardly revised 12.6 percent spike in November.

The greenback edged up to 0.7340 against the kiwi and 1.2328 against the loonie, off its early lows of 0.7382 and 1.2294, respectively. The next possible resistance for the greenback is seen around 0.72 against the kiwi and 1.26 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, Swiss retail sales for December, SVME manufacturing PMI for January, PMI reports from major European economies are due in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended January 27, construction spending for December and ISM manufacturing index for January are set for release.

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