Investing.com - The dollar traded largely higher against most major currencies on Wednesday after upbeat private-sector jobs and factory orders reports fueled hopes for a more sustained U.S. recovery down the road, which sparked demand for the greenback.
In U.S. trading on Tuesday, EUR/USD was down 0.21% at 1.3763.
Payroll processing firm ADP reported earlier that the U.S. private sector added 191,000 jobs in March, just shy of expectations for a 195,000 reading.
February’s figure was revised up to a gain of 178,000 from a previously reported increase of 139,000, and the overall report bolstered the dollar by fueling hopes Friday's official nonfarm payrolls data will come in solid.
Separately, the Commerce Department said U.S. factory orders jumped 1.6% in February, the biggest increase since September, ahead of forecasts for a 1.2% rise.
The data strengthened the greenback by keeping expectations on track for the Federal Reserve to continue winding monetary stimulus programs this year.
The euro, meanwhile, continued to come under pressure on expectations for the European Central Bank to take policy steps to prop up the economy.
On Monday data revealed the euro zone's annual inflation rate slowed to 0.5% in March, the lowest since November 2009.
Data released earlier showing that the euro zone's producer prices index contracted 0.2% in February from January, worse than market calls for a -0.1% reading.
On year, producer prices contracted 1.7%, outpacing market calls for a 1.6% contraction.
Also in Europe, the euro zone's gross domestic product growth rate as adjusted to 0.2% in the final quarter of 2013, down from a previous 0.3% estimate, according Eurostat.
The dollar was up against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.17% at 103.85, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.37% at 0.8868.
The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.03% at 1.6624.
In the U.K. earlier, the pound rose even after the Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply construction purchasing managers' index ticked down to 62.5 last month from 62.6 in February.
Economists had expected the index to rise to 63.0 in March, however, improving demand and more favorable business conditions lifted business optimism to its highest level since January 2007, as firms hired staff at their fastest pace in four months.
Residential construction saw the fastest rate of expansion, rebounding after weather related disruptions in February.
Also on Wednesday, U.K. mortgage lender Nationwide reported that home prices slowed for a third straight month in March, though they did log their biggest annual increase in almost four years.
Home prices rose 0.4% last month, the slowest pace of monthly growth since June 2013, slowing from an upwardly revised 0.7% increase in February.
On a year-over-year basis, however, house prices were 9.5% higher in March after a 9.4% increase in the 12 months to February, the largest annual gain since May 2010.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.01% at 1.1024, AUD/USD down 0.04% at 0.9244 and NZD/USD down 0.94% at 0.8557.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.17% at 80.37.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to publish data on the trade balance and its weekly report on initial jobless claims.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management is to publish a report service-sector activity.