Euro weaker but within recent ranges

The euro dipped against thedollar and European shares fell on Wednesday as investors tradednervously ahead of a European Central Bank meeting and a U.S.jobs report.Markets have been expecting ECB President Mario Draghi tounveil a bold plan to tackle to the euro zones debt crisis atThursdays meeting, but public disputes among policymakers overthe extent of the measures have sowed doubt.Data showing U.S. factory activity slowed in August has alsorenewed concerns over the health of the worlds largest economy,and heightened the focus on Fridays payroll report which couldpersuade the Federal Reserve to ease policy.We might not get all the details about the ECB bond buyingplan tomorrow, but we know its coming, so its priced in. Nowthe question is: how bad is the situation in the U.S. economy?Well get a better idea on Friday with the payrolls, said DavidThebault, head of quantitative sales trading at Global Equities.The single currency was down 0.4 percent at $1.2510,off its high of $1.2629 seen on Tuesday and over a cent belowFridays two-month high of $1.26378.Some investors are wary that the euros rally ahead of theECB meeting will turn out to be, buy the rumour, sell thefact, said Kimihiko Tomita, head of foreign exchange for StateStreet Global Markets in Tokyo.Germany will provide a test of investor sentiment ahead ofthe ECB meeting when it sells 5 billion euros ($6.3 billion)ofnew 10-year bonds with a record low coupon of 1.5 percent laterin the session.German Bund futures were 30 ticks higher at 143.80ahead of the sale with 10-year yields 2.5 basispoints lower at 1.38 percent, having retraced around half of therise seen during August.Share markets were also moving lower across Europe due tocaution ahead of the ECB meeting and on evidence the euro areawas slipping back into recession.The FTSE Eurofirst index of top European sharesdown 0.4 percent at 1080.30 points while the blue chip EuroSTOXX 50 index fell 0.5 percent to 2423.40 pointsafter losing 1.1 percent on Monday.