Investing.com - The dollar was almost unchanged against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as after the release of mixed U.S. economic reports and as oil prices dropped further.
USD/JPY slid 0.75% to 112.07.
The National Association of Retailers said that existing home sales rose 0.4% in January to 5.47 million units from 5.45 million units in December. Analysts had expected existing home sales to fall 2.9% to 5.32 million units last month.
Separately, the U.S. Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence fell to a seven-month low of 92.2 this month from a reading of 97.8 in January, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 98.1. Analysts expected the index to fall to 97.0 in February.
Meanwhile, oil prices pushed lower following bearish comments from Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, who called last week’s output freeze deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia “ridiculous”.
Last week’s proposal by Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar for oil producers to freeze output at January levels puts “unrealistic demands” on Iran, Zanganeh said according to Iranian news agency Shana.
EUR/USD slipped 0.17% to 1.1012.
Earlier Tuesday, data showed that the German Ifo Business Climate Index fell to a a 14-month low of 105.7 in February from a reading of 107.3 in January, below forecasts for 106.7.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.42% at 1.4091, not far from Monday’s three-year low of 1.4057, and was still lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF retreating 0.85% to 0.9912.
Sterling remained under pressure amid ongoing discussions over a posssible British exit from the European Union.
In the Bank of England’s Inflation Report hearings on Tuesday, BoE governor Mark Carney said that the central bank would treat the Brexit like any other political event.
Meanwhile, Swiss National Bank Thomas Jordan warned it could not take “endless” steps to ease monetary policy.
Jordan also noted that central bankers must continuously assess the effects of their monetary policies, which can weaken over time.
The remarks were seen as an indication that the SNB would refrain from making further cuts to interest rates.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was steady, with AUD/USD at 0.7224, while NZD/USD dropped 0.40% to 0.6673.
USD/CAD advanced 0.53% to trade at 1.3780.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 97.39, still close to the previous session’s two-and-a-half week high of 97.61.