2014.07.2814:09:00UTC+00Dollar Rally Interrupted By Focus On Fed

The dollar was virtually unchanged versus major rivals on Monday after solid gains last week.

Traders moved to the sidelines in anticipation of a flurry of key economic news, including the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and the U.S. jobs report for July.

The Fed's decision on Wednesday is a foregone conclusion, as policy makers are certain to hold rates at zero and trim their asset-purchase plan by another $10 billion per month.

Markets will be looking closely at Fed's accompanying statement, however, looking for clues about when a tightening cycle will begin.

In the meantime, the dollar was steady near 8-month highs against the euro, holding at $1.3440.

There was little movement against the sterling around $1.70, with the buck staying 2 cents from a recent 6-year low.

The dollar/yen pair remained range-bound at Y101.80, having seen almost no change through the first half of the year.

In economic news from the U.S., pending home sales unexpectedly dropped in June. Data released by the National Association of Realtors said the index declined by 1.1 percent to 102.7 in the month, after surging up to 103.8 in May.

The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected pending home sales to increase by another 0.5 percent.