Euro falls against most Group of 10 peers

On Thursday the euro weakened and core European government bonds rose as investors weighed the prospect of the ECB sticking with its loose monetary policy. The dollar pared its biggest quarterly loss in a year and gold fell.

Europe’s common currency fell against most Group-of-10 peers after a central bank official doused expectations policy makers were planning to withdraw monetary support, echoing the message expressed by colleagues on Wednesday. The South African rand bounced as the country’s president faces a potential rebellion within his own party over the fate of his finance minister.

The ECB’s dovish tone once again establishes a diverging outlook between U.S. and European monetary policy. Two Federal Reserve officials signaled there may be more than the three rate increases currently projected for this year, as the world’s biggest economy progresses toward goals for full employment and 2 percent inflation.

Euro-area economic confidence unexpectedly slipped this month, an indication that the region’s recovery may not be as immune from political uncertainty as anticipated. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the region dipped to 107.9 from 108 in February, the European Commission in Brussels said on Thursday.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed at 11:30 a.m. in London after closing Wednesday at the highest since December 2015. Futures on the S&P 500 Index fell 0.1 percent. The benchmark gauge rose 0.1 percent on Wednesday.

Japan’s Topix fell 0.9 percent, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 1 percent, retreating for a fourth straight day. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index climbed for a third day to the highest since April 2015 as energy shares jumped.

West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.4 percent to $49.33 a barrel, after surging 2.4 percent on Wednesday after a biggerthan-forecast decline in U.S. gasoline stockpiles. Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,250.54 an ounce.