Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against against the other major currencies in subdued trade on Tuesday, as trading volumes were expected to remain thin with no major U.S. data to be released and as the greenback remained supported by hopes for an upcoming U.S. rate hike.
The dollar was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.68% at 119.74.
The dollar remained supported after comments by some Federal Reserve officials overnight indicated that a U.S. rate hike is still on the cards this year.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart indicated in separate remarks that the U.S. central bank is still likely to raise short-term interest rates this year.
Investors were looking ahead to a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen later in the week for additional clarity on the bank’s decision last week to leave interest rates on hold.
Markets in Japan remained closed for a second day on Tuesday for a national holiday.
The dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.23% to 1.1166.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.45% at 1.5438 and with USD/CHF adding 0.10% to 0.9725.
Sterling weakened after the U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that public borrowing rose to £12.1 billion in August from £10.7 billion a year earlier.
It was the widest budget deficit for the month of August since 2012 and was well above economists' forecasts of 9.0 billion.
In Switzerland, data on Tuesday showed that the trade surplus narrowed to 2.87 billion Swiss francs in August from 3.58 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated surplus of 3.47 billion Swiss francs.
Analysts had expected the trade surplus to hit 2.97 billion Swiss francs last month.
The Australian dollar was weaker, with AUD/USD retreating 0.41% to 0.7102, while NZD/USD held steady at 0.6321.
The Aussie strengthened earlier after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that its house price index increased by 4.7% in the second quarter, beating expectations for a 2.5% rise, after a 1.6% gain in the three months to March.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was little changed at 1.3249.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.10% at 96.13.