Investing.com – The U.S. dollar rose modestly on Thursday, the euro fell ahead of the ECB meeting and the pound weakened on slowing U.K. wage growth.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six other currencies, was up 0.1% at 103.550 at 04:00 ET (09:00 GMT), rebounding from losses suffered this week on growing optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September.

The dollar is gaining value

The dollar rebounded on Thursday after falling to its lowest level since March in the previous session.

Confidence that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September in a bid to stimulate the slowing economy has weighed heavily on the dollar.

Economic data due later in the session is likely to show an enhance in the weekly figure, while forecasts point to a slight improvement in conditions.

Pound loses value as wage growth slows

fell 0.2% to 1.2985 after data showed UK wage growth slowed in May but remained mighty.

The data showed that excluding the premium (a key indicator of inflationary pressures for the BoE, which is considering cutting interest rates next month), growth was 5.7% in the three months to May compared with a year earlier.

That was down from 6.0% in the previous month and caused money markets to raise the probability of a rate cut next month from 30% to 39.1%.

The next meeting will be held in early August.

fell 0.1% to 1.0928, down slightly from Wednesday’s four-month peak ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank at which monetary policy is set later in the session.

The central bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged after cutting them in June. As such, much of the focus will be on the ECB president’s comments at an accompanying press conference.

“Our team concluded that the ECB would likely be comfortable with current market pricing of a further 25bp rate cut in September and December and would prefer to leave the benchmark unchanged today,” ING analysts said in a note.

Yen gives back some of the profits

In Asia, the index rose 0.2% to 156.47, after falling to 155.38 earlier.

The yen’s keen rise, which has seen the currency pair fall by almost 162 points in the past week, has sparked heightened speculation about further intervention in currency markets by the Japanese government.

fell slightly to 7.2586, with the pair stabilizing below eight-month highs.

Attitudes toward China worsened after Bloomberg reported that the U.S. was considering tougher restrictions on China’s technology and chipmaking industries, a move that could anger Beijing and spark a modern trade war between the world’s largest economies.