Investing.com - The dollar held steady against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of a string of U.S. economic reports due later in the day.
USD/JPY climbed 0.50% to 109.55.
Investors were eyeing the release of U.S. housing sector, consumer prices and industrial production data due later Tuesday, for further indications on the strength of the economy.
The greenback seemed to shrug off a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday saying that its general business conditions index fell to -9.0 this month from 9.6 in April. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 6.5.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1324.
The dollar was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.58% at 1.4483 and was fractionally higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.09% to 0.9786.
Sterling pared earlier gains after the U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose by an annualized 0.3% in in April, slowing from 0.5% in March. Economists had expected the rate of inflation to remain stable at 0.5%.
Consumer prices rose just 0.1% from a month earlier in April, slowing sharply from 0.4% in March and below forecasts for a gain of 0.3%.
Core inflation, which strips out changes in the price of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell to 1.2%, falling short of economists' expectations for 1.4%.
The weak data indicated that the Bank of England will be in no rush to raise interest rates from record lows of 0.5%, where they have been for almost seven years.
In a separate report, the ONS said U.K. house prices jumped 9% on a year-over-year basis in March, the largest rise in a year, as buyers rushed to beat a stamp duty increase on buy-to-let properties.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD up 0.45% at 0.7322 and with NZD/USD edging up 0.15% to 0.6800.
Earlier Tuesday, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s May policy meeting revealed that board members were reluctant to lower interest rates, signaling that there is little chance for more rate cuts to come.
The minutes said that members had "discussed the merits of adjusting policy or awaiting further information before acting".
Elsewhere, USD/CAD rose 0.15% to trade at 1.2913.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.49, still close to Friday’s three-week high of 94.84.