Investing.com - The dollar pared losses and held stesdy against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen due to begin later in the day.
GBP/USD gained 0.29% to 1.4735, after hitting a seven-week high of 1.4781 earlier in the day.
The pound strengthened after two opinion polls released on Monday indicated that support for the 'Remain' campaign had regained its lead over a vote to exit the 28-member bloc.
An ORB poll for the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed that 53% of voters supported the Remain campaign, compared with 46% support for the Leave campaign.
A poll published by NatCen also showed Remain on 53% and Leave at 47%.
But a poll by YouGov for The Times newspaper showed Leave ahead on 44%, with Remain on 42%.
The poll was conducted over the weekend, after the killing of Jo Cox, a Labour Party member and supporter of EU membership.
EUR/USD was little changed at 1.1314, off an earlier high of 1.1349.
Data earlier showed that the ZEW index of German economic sentiment rose by 12.8 points to a reading of 19.2 in June. Economists had expected the index to decline to 4.7.
The ZEW index of euro zone economic sentiment also surprised with an increase to 20.2 in June from 16.8 a month earlier, settling well above forecasts for a drop to 15.3.
The dollar pushed higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.71% at 104.68 and remained lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF shedding 0.25% to 0.9591.
Earlier Tuesday, Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday that officials would not intervene in the currency market lightly.
The comments came amid concerns over recent strong gains in the safe haven yen, which tends to be bought by investors in times of heightened market uncertainty.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.48% at 0.7495 and with NZD/USD climbing 0.42% to 0.7151.
In the minutes of its June policy meeting released on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia remained positive about growth and employment in Australia, but still underlined the risks of low inflation.
The central bank gave no indication of potential rate cuts in the near future, easing investors’ concerns that the RBA could lower rates in the next 12 months.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD fell 0.23% to trade at 1.2774, the lowest since June 13.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 93.69, off a one-week low of 93.47 hit earlier in the session.