By Aaron Hankin

The greenback lost ground on Wednesday, extending its recent slide ahead of the conclusion of a Federal Reserve policy meeting.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the buck's strength against six of its closest rivals, fell 0.2% to 97.311, on track for a fourth consecutive losing session.

Read: The Fed could lower an interest rate target today. Don't get too excited (http://www.marketwatch.com/articles/federal-reserve-interest-rate-target-51556589723)

What are analysts saying

"The past few trading days have certainly not been kind to the dollar, despite U.S. GDP growth figures for the first quarter of 2019 smashing market expectations last week," wrote Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM.

"A touch of caution ahead of the Fed's rate decision and the U.S. jobs report scheduled for release at the end of the week could be one of the factors behind the dollar's recent depreciation. The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged today, despite Donald Trump's recent call for the central bank to cut rates."

The Fed decision on interest rates is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern time. Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m.

Read:The case for the Fed to keep an interest-rate hike on the table revolves around financial stability (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-case-for-the-fed-to-keep-an-interest-rate-hike-on-the-table-revolves-around-financial-stability-2019-04-30)

The movers

The New Zealand dollar was the worst-performing major currency on Wednesday, falling as much as 0.8% after weaker-than-expected employment data. The kiwi fell to an intraday low at 0.6628 and in most recent trade it was changing hands at 0.6648 down 0.4%

Read:Here are 5 reasons for the U.S. dollar's upside breakout to a nearly 2-year high (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-reasons-for-the-us-dollars-upside-breakout-to-a-nearly-2-year-high-2019-04-30)

The majors

The British pound shrugged off a soft manufacturing PMI reading to trade at $1.3087, compared with $1.3034 on Wednesday. The pound is on track to log its fourth consecutive winning session and has gained 1.2% on the week.

The euro was higher at $1.1237 versus $1.1215 late Wednesday. It's the highest level for the shared currency since April 23.

The Japanese yen was marginally higher at Yen111.17.

Read:Expect a 'minor correction' of 5% before stocks march higher, famed bull says (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expect-a-minor-correction-of-5-before-stocks-march-higher-famed-bull-says-2019-04-30)

On the calendar

The Federal Reserve finishes up its two-day meeting this afternoon where the central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

"The Fed finds itself in a difficult situation as U.S. data remain relatively robust, but wages gains and price pressures continue to be muted providing little reason for tightening at this time," said Boris Schlossberg managing director of FX Strategy at BK Asset Management.

Earlier in the session, the ADP employment showed a surge in private sector hiring with 275,000 jobs added in the month of April, topping market consensus of 180,000.

Read:ADP private-sector job growth surges by 275,000 -- but there's a caveat (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/adp-private-sector-job-growth-surges-by-275000-but-theres-a-caveat-2019-05-01)

And in other economic news, manufacturing activity expanded at the slowest pace since President Trump was elected (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/manufacturers-grow-at-slowest-pace-in-april-since-president-trump-elected-ism-finds-2019-05-01), the Institute for Supply Management said. The index fell to 52.8% in April, down from 55.3% in March.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 01, 2019 11:27 ET (15:27 GMT)

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