The Canadian dollar declined against most major currencies during Wednesday's trading following an expected decision by the central bank regarding the interest rate.

The Bank of Canada announced today, Wednesday, its decision on monetary policy, which it kept unchanged in line with expectations.
The bank revealed in its decision the fixation of the interest rate at 4.50%, unchanged from the previous level in last February's meeting.

In terms of trading, the Canadian dollar fell against its US counterpart by 0.3% to 0.7245 as of 19:54 GMT.
 

Australian Dollar
The Australian dollar rose marginally against the US currency at exactly 19:55 GMT by 0.1% to 0.6589.
 

US Dollar and the Federal Reserve
The dollar index stabilized positively by 19:38 GMT at a level of 105.6 points, recording a high of 105.8 points and a low of 105.3 points.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated in his testimony today before the House Financial Services Committee that central bank officials have not made a decision on the size of the interest rate hike at this month's meeting.

Powell added during his testimony that the Fed has not yet decided the size of the rate hike at this month's meeting, and officials need to assess more economic data.
Powell added: "We are not at a pre-decided stage; upcoming data will determine whether we raise interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points at the upcoming meeting this month."

Powell's remarks came hours after his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, in which he indicated the possibility of raising interest rates beyond previously expected levels, in an effort to control persistent inflation in the United States.

Uncertainty prevails regarding the Federal Reserve's decisions in the coming period as further pace of rate hikes would mean increased borrowing costs for companies, which has pressured the stock market.

Employment Data
The ADP index data released today, Wednesday, showed that the US private sector added 242 thousand jobs last month while expectations pointed to an addition of 197 thousand in February.

The US job openings index recorded 10.82 million jobs in January while analysts expected it to rise to 10.58 million jobs.

Also, later this week, US labor market data will be released, with private sector employment data expected on Wednesday, while the more comprehensive monthly jobs report for February will be released next Friday.