Investing.com - The dollar edged lower against a basket of other major currencies on Tuesday, as news of a third bailout deal for Greece continued to support demand for riskier assets.
EUR/USD rose 0.29% to 1.1028 after euro zone leaders reached a unanimous agreement on a third bailout deal for Greece on Monday, following marathon weekend-long talks.
The Greek parliament must now pass new legislation by Wednesday to raise sales taxes, cut pension payments and enforce automatic spending cuts if the next budget misses its targets before negotiations on a third bailout program can begin.
Parliaments in several euro zone countries will also have to approve any new bailout.
Earlier Tuesday, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment fell by 1.8 points to an eight-month low of 29.7 this month from June’s reading of 31.5. Analysts had expected the index to drop by 2.5 points to 29.0 in July.
The pound was also higher, with GBP/USD up 0.73% at 1.5596 after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the time for rate increases is moving closer, in testimony to the Treasury Committee in Westminster.
The comments came after the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that the rate of consumer price inflation was flat last month, down from 0.1% in May. Analysts had expected a reading of 0.1%.
Month-over-month, consumer price inflation was also flat in June, below estimates for 0.2% and following a 0.2% increase in May.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will now have to write an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, as inflation is more than a percentage point below the central bank's target of 2.0%.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs rose at a rate of 0.8% last month, down from 0.9% in May and below forecasts for a reading of 0.9%.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 123.39 and lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF sliding 0.61% to 0.9445.
The Australian dollar was stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.35% to 0.7431, while NZD/USD slipped 0.25% to 0.6677.
The National Australia Bank earlier reported that its business confidence index rose to 10 last month from a reading of 7 in May.
USD/CAD climbed 0.48% to trade at 1.2799.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.14% at 96.79.