Investing.com - The dollar moved higher against the other major currencies in subdued trade on Tuesday, as hopes for a U.S. rate hike before the end of the year continued to support the greenback and as investors awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, due on Wednesday.
EUR/USD fell 0.22% to 1.1110, not far from Friday’s two-month lows of 1.1101.
Demand for the U.S. dollar remained supported as Friday’s disappointing U.S. jobs data was not expected to prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates later this year.
In the euro zone, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment rose to 6.2 this month from September’s reading of 0.5. Analysts had expected the index to increase to 4.3 in October.
Additionally, the index of euro zone economic sentiment increased to 12.3 in October from 5.4 a month earlier. Consensus was looking for an increase to 6.3.
GBP/USD dropped 0.58% to trade at a 31-year low of 1.2290.
The pound remained under broad selling pressure amid sustained concerns over a ‘hard Brexit’ for Britain.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY gained 0.30% to 103.91, while USD/CHF rose 0.35% to 0.9860.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.76% at 0.7550 and with NZD/USD tumbling 0.93% to 0.7069.
Earlier Tuesday, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index remained unchanged at 6 in September.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD added 0.29% to trade at 1.3213.
The commodity-related loonie weakened as oil prices turned lower on Tuesday, although hopes for an OPEC-led production cut still lent support.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.34% at 97.24, close to Friday’s more than two-month peak of 97.22.