FOREX-Dollar steadies as markets wait for Fed, ECB

* AUD rally stalls as oil drop hits sentiment
* Kiwi slips, other majors rangebound
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E

By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, April 28 (Reuters) - The dollar steadied on
Tuesday as currency markets entered a holding pattern ahead of
U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings later
this week and as a fresh tumble in oil prices cautioned against
risk taking.
The greenback was flat against most majors, apart from a New
Zealand dollar weighed down by expectations of further monetary
easing.
A 5% drop in benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 and a 13% drop in
U.S. crude CLc1 - an ill omen for global demand - also put the
brakes on a Australian dollar that has recovered 17% from a
17-year low struck last month. AUD/
Markets are looking to any sort of forward guidance from the
Fed, which meets later on Tuesday and is due to issue a
statement on Wednesday, and for possible further easing in
Europe. The ECB meets on Thursday.
"The (Fed) has so many new programs in play, it is doubtful
they follow with anything new," said Stephen Innes, chief global
market strategist at AxiCorp.
"The ECB could do something though it is not clear what," he
said. "Hence the reason FX markets are stuck in neutral today."
The dollar held steady against a basket of currencies =USD
at 100.100 - about where it has been parked for a month. It was
a fraction softer against the yen JPY= at 107.17 yen per
dollar and tad firmer on the euro and pound.
The Fed has led the global monetary response to the COVID-19
pandemic by dropping interest rates to zero and aggressively
buying bonds and corporate credit - a program it extended
overnight to include municipal debt of smaller U.S. cities.
The ECB has had less room to manoeuvre on rates and
announced an enormous bond-buying program. But bickering and
indecision over a eurozone rescue package has some in the market
expecting deeper action still, perhaps as soon as Thursday.
That has seen the euro left behind as optimism about an
economic recovery from the coronavirus has put pressure on the
U.S. dollar and driven an impressive rally in riskier currencies
such as the Australian dollar.
"Whereas the U.S., UK, Australia, China and Japan, if needs
be, can go to the printing presses, in Europe you're
constrained," said Colin Harte, head of strategy at BNP Paribas
Asset Management in London.
"I think there's a little bit of a risk premium that's
creeping in to the euro on concerns about where do we go from
here."
The single currency EUR= held at $1.0821. Elsewhere the
pound GBP= was pegged lower at $1.2412 after Prime Minister
Boris Johnson warned it was too dangerous to relax a strict
lockdown in Britain.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 eased slightly to $0.6450,
snapping four sessions of consecutive gains on optimism for a
global economic re-start.