The Federal Reserve decided against hiking rates and continued to maintain its zero interest rate policy which was seen as a huge negative for the dollar which tanked by close to 1 percent against the euro.

The euro came under pressure after European Central Bank Chief Economist Peter Praet reiterated Saturday that the bank is prepared to enlarge its monetary stimulus program if necessary to combat risks from global economic turbulence. Bullard and Lockhart’s comments supported views the Fed would tighten policy this year after leaving rates unchanged last week.

In a report, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales declined 4.8% to 5.31 million units last month from 5.58 million in July.

“The Fed’s talking a little bit more hawkish, the ECB’s talking a little more dovish”, said Douglas Borthwick, managing director at Chapdelaine Foreign Exchange in New York.

Some of the world’s biggest banks, including Credit Suisse, Bank of America, and Commerzbank say the potential for the dollar to rise against major currencies has diminished after policy makers kept rates on hold and stopped short of spelling out plans for an increase this year. “The market’s dollar position versus the other major currencies is already light and investors will need to start accumulating dollar-long positions ahead of an eventually inevitable Fed hike“.

The Fed’s decision last week to hold off on a hike may lead other central banks, including the ECB, to ease further, said Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at BNP Paribas in New York.

Analysts said traders would monitor comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Wednesday and Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday. The greenback was up 0.49 percent against the Japanese yen at 120.560 yen.

Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.20% at 1.5598 and with USD/CHF rising 0.33% to 0.9723.

The announcement triggered broad weakness for the dollar, and those losses were extended on Friday, with the greenback dropping half a percent against a currency basket to hit 94.063, its weakest since late August.