1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises against euro ahead of ECB meeting

The U.S. dollar increased against the euro on Wednesday as the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting scheduled Thursday triggered heated discussions over whether the central bank will unleash more stimulus in the euro zone.

ECB Governor Mario Draghi said earlier this month that European Union is facing "significant" downside risks. He warned that should these risks persist, the Eurozone might have to resort to adjustments in its quantitative easing policy to see it through.

In the previous session, however, the euro rose against the greenback as the latest euro zone economic data came out better than expected, dampening market speculation for more stimulus in the region as early as this month. Some analysts said the ECB will probably not ease policy till the end of this year.

The greenback rose against its six major peers on Wednesday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.12 percent at 95.030 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1337 dollars from 1.1339 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5425 dollars from 1.5440 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7223 dollar from 0.7259 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.95 Japanese yen, higher than 119.92 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 0.9591 Swiss franc from 0.9565 Swiss franc, and it went up to 1.3117 Canadian dollars from 1.2985 Canadian dollars. Enditem