The euro fell to a 26-month low on Thursday as the dollar gained after the cautious tone of the US Federal Reserve about further cuts in interest rates.

Investors saw the bank as unlikely to run a long cycle of monetary easing.

In a move that was widely expected, the US central bank cut interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since the financial crisis, amid the growing risk of higher import duties and a slowdown in the world's major economies.

However, the bank also noted that a quarter percentage point cut in interest rates may not be the start of a long campaign to support the economy.

The tone of the Fed's looser-leaning Fed prompted the dollar to recover, pushing its index, which measures the performance of the greenback against a basket of currencies, to a 26-month high of 98.93 on Thursday.

The euro fell to a 26-month low against the greenback at $ 1.1034, while sterling hit a 30-month low of $ 1.2087.

In the latest trading, the euro fell 0.3% to $ 1.1037. The pound fell against the single European currency 0.2% to 91.29 pence per euro.

Sterling has been hit by a series of losses in recent days as markets fear Britain will leave the EU without an agreement on October 31.

The yen fell to a three-month low of 109.32 yen to the dollar, and fell 0.3% to 109.09 yen.

The Swiss franc rose 0.2% to 1.0983 francs per euro, while the Australian dollar was little changed to settle at $ 0.6847.

Gold shines
Not surprisingly, a report by the World Gold Council on Thursday showed demand for gold in the world in the first half of 2019, the highest level in three years at 2181 tons.

The Council attributed the rise to the standard purchases of central banks around the world and the inflows of investment funds to increase their holdings of gold.

Central banks around the world added 374.1 tonnes to official gold reserves in the first half, the highest pace since 2010, the report said.