The dollar remained broadly lower on Wednesday, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's highly-anticipated monetary policy statement due later in the day.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. central bank was widely expected to leave interest rates on hold, but it was also likely to announce plans to trim its $4.2 trillion in bond holdings.
The safe-haven yen and Swiss franc remained stronger, with USD/JPY down 0.25% at 111.32 and with USD/CHF shedding 0.21% to 0.9607.
Traders were also cautious amid potentially higher tensions between the U.S. and North Korea following hawkish statements from U.S. President Donald Trump.
In his first speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said"the United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself and its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."
Elsewhere, EUR/USD added 0.08% to 1.2004, while GBP/USD gained 0.22% to 1.3318, re-approaching Monday's 15-month peak of 1.3620.
The pound was boosted after the UK Office for National Statistics reported on Wednesday that retail sales blew past forecasts in August, increasing 1.0%.
Sterling had come under some pressure after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned on Monday that Brexit will weigh on overseas trade and that leaving the EU was already limiting the potential size of the UK economy.
However, Carney also said that interest rates are likely to rise “over the coming months”, reiterating what was said at the BoE's most recent policy meeting and had already pushed the pound broadly higher.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars pushed higher, with AUD/USD up 0.57% at 0.8056 and with NZD/USD advancing 0.77% to 0.7373.
Earlier Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand said the country's current account surplus swung into a deficit of NZ$620,000 in the second quarter from a surplus of NZ$240,000 in the previous quarter.
Analysts were expecting a current account deficit of NZ$880,000 in the last quarter.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slumped 0.37% to 1.2247.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.16% at 91.47 by 08:20 a.m. ET (12:20 GMT), the lowest since September 11.
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