By Cornelius Luca
New York, April 26 (BridgeNews) - The euro advanced to a two-day high after the European Central Bank (ECB) met market expectations and left its interest rates unchanged at its Council Meeting. The central bank will rebuff pressure to ease its monetary stance during the G7 meeting this weekend in Washington with evidence of above target inflation in the region.
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In the latest news on inflation, German preliminary CPI came above forecast at up 0.3% in April and up 2.8% on the year. All eyes are now on the U.S. employment cost index, which is expected to rise 1.1% in the first quarter.
However, the Federal Reserve, which is focusing on economic weakness rather than the threat of inflation, is not expected to react to the data.
Dollar/yen trimmed gains after climbing to an eight-day high of 122.83 on disappointment that new Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed the relatively unknown, 79-year old Masajuro Shiokawa as his Finance Minister.
Both sterling and Swiss franc advanced to two-day lows versus the dollar, in line with the euro. One day after rebounding from a seven-week low of 1.5395, dollar/Canada opened virtually unchanged within an inside range.
Market participants will be faced with speeches by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Fed Gov. Edward Gramlich, San Francisco Fed Bank President Robert Parry, and Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Anthony Santomero.
Traders will likely try to bid the major European currencies higher in the morning.

Current Previous Change Global Global
NY open NY close low high

USD/JPY 122.48 122.10 0.38 121.80 122.83
EUR/USD 0.9006 0.8972 0.0034 0.8947 0.9017
EUR/JPY 110.28 109.55 0.73 109.33 110.37
GBP/USD 1.4413 1.4401 0.0012 1.4378 1.4423
USD/CHF 1.7028 1.7090 -0.0062 1.7015 1.7136
USD/CAD 1.5473 1.5481 -0.0008 1.5471 1.5491
AUD/USD 0.5073 0.5060 0.0013 0.5030 0.5089
NZD/USD 0.4115 0.4107 0.0008 0.4082 0.4127
SP.1 1232.90 0.90 1225.50 1232.90
ND.1 1837.00 13.00 1798.00 1837.00