Investing.com - The dollar held steady against against the other major currencies on Tuesday, amid mounting uncertainty over whether or not the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its meeting this month.
The dollar edged higher against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.10% at 1.1158.
Sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable after Friday's U.S. jobs report failed to provide much clarity on when the Fed will decide to raise short term interest rates.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 173,000 jobs last month, the smallest increase in employment in five months and was below expectations for 220,000, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.1%, its lowest level since April 2008.
Meanwhile, the single currency remained supported after the European Central Bank indicated last week that it could scale up its quantitative easing program amid increased risk to the region’s inflation outlook from slowing growth in China and falling oil prices.
The dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.72% at 120.13.
Demand for the safe-haven yen strengthened after data earlier showed that China's exports slumped 5.5% from a year earlier, although better than forecasts for a decline of 6.0%, while imports plunged 13.8%, far worse than expectations for a drop of 8.2%.
A slowdown in domestic demand indicated a recovery in the broader economy remains fragile and may need further government stimulus.
In Japan, data on Tuesday showed that second quarter gross domestic product fell 0.3%, less than the 0.4% expected drop.
A separate report showed that Japan's current account for July came in at a surplus of ¥1.809 trillion, above the expected surplus of ¥1.715 trillion.
The dollar was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD climbing 0.65% to 1.5376 but higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF rising 0.33% to 0.9783.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD advancing 0.77% to 0.6978 and with NZD/USD adding 0.26% to 0.6276.
The National Australia Bank earlier reported that its business confidence index ticked down to 1 last month from 4 in July, compared to expectations for a reading of zero.Meanwhile, USD/CAD slid 0.45% to trade at 1.3248.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 96.19, the lowest level since September 4.