By Marc Jones
LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar slipped to a 12-week low on Thursday and European stocks traded cautiously after the U.S. Federal Reserve stuck to its mildly upbeat view of the world but gave no hint on when it will next raise interest rates.
Britain's pound nonetheless fell against the dollar and euro after the Bank of England, while raising its forecast for British growth this year, also kept policy unchanged and said rates could go either way depending on the economic outlook.
Pan-European stock indexes were marginally lower and U.S. index futures signalled Wall Street would open lower.
The dollar hit its lowest since mid-November against a basket of six other top world currencies after Fed policymakers, still awaiting clarity on the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, gave no firm signal on the timing of its next rate move.
"There was not the spoon-feeding 'expect a rate hike in March' guidance the market has come to expect (from the Fed) before such changes in policy are made," Rabobank analyst Michael Every said
The euro traded 0.4 percent higher at just above $1.08, while the Japanese yen gained 0.8 percent to 112.40 per dollar. Sterling, however, fell 0.8 percent to $1.2555. having earlier hit a seven-week high of $1.2704.
Societe Generale FX strategist Alvin Tan said the market had been quite "bulled-up" in sterling before the BoE rate decision and forecasts on growth and inflation.
"But there weren't really any surprises. The improved outlook was expected, 9-0 (vote count to keep rates on hold) was expected, so it definitely needed a much more hawkish tone to keep it (sterling) up."
BoE Governor Mark Carney said the revised growth forecast did not mean Britain's vote to leave the European Union would be without consequences. He added an overshoot in UK inflation had been entirely due to sterling's fall since the June vote.
Rattled euro zone bond market drew some comfort from the Fed's apparent lack of urgency to push up rates. Yields fell, pulling back from multi-month highs hit after strong data and signs that inflation is picking up in the bloc. Political risks in France before a presidential election have also pressured bonds.
Benchmark German 10-year Bund yields fell 2.5 basis points to 0.45 percent. French yields fell 4 bps to 1.06 percent but the gap over German peers was near its widest level in three years on nerves about far-right Marine Le Pen polling strongly ahead of the elections in April and May.
European stocks were left flat-footed as disappointing company results, including a $7.5 billion fine for wrongdoing for Deutsche Bank sent its shares down over 5 percent.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index dipped 0.1 percent. S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0.2 percent.
Earlier, Asian shares ex-Japan hit their highest since mid-October as Korea's markets climbed to their best level since July 2015.
Oil prices rose as signs that big producers were cutting production outweighed a sharp rise in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles.
Brent crude futures rose 32 cents to $57.12 a barrel threatening its highest level of the year,
Copper fell 0.6 percent to $5,911 a tonne. Safe-have gold, however, hit its highest since mid-November as the dollar weakened. Gold last traded up 1.1 percent at $1,223 an ounce.
"We've been expecting the Fed's next rate hike to come in June and there was nothing indicating a hike in March," said Shuji Shirota, head of macro strategy group in Tokyo at HSBC.
(Additional reporting by Patrick Graham, Dhara Ranasinghe and Nigel Stephenson, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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