Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was steady to higher against most of its major counterparts on Tuesday, as euro zone debt concerns and worries over the outlook for economic growth continued to dominate market sentiment, supporting demand for the safe haven greenback.
During European morning trade, the dollar was little changed against the euro, with EUR/USD easing 0.03% to hit 1.2306.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile after a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday offered few signs of progress in tackling the region’s debt crisis.
Euro zone ministers agreed to give Spain until 2014, instead of 2013, to reach its deficit reduction targets, in exchange for further budget savings, and promised EUR30 billion would be given by the end of July to start a big bailout of the country's banks.
They made no apparent progress, however, on activating the bloc's rescue funds to intervene in bond markets and bring down Spain and Italy’s spiraling borrowing costs.
Spain’s 10-year government bonds were hovering at 7.03% earlier Tuesday, while Italy’s 10-year bonds were at 6.10%, both above the 6% threshold which is widely seen as unsustainable.
The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.01% to hit 1.5528.
Sterling found some support after official data showed that U.K. manufacturing production rose 1.2% in May, beating expectations for a 0.1% rise and following a 0.8% fall the previous month.
A separate report showed that the U.K.’s trade deficit narrowed more-than-expected in May, narrowing to GBP8.4 billion from a deficit of GBP9.7 billion the previous month.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against the yen and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.35% to hit 79.27 and USD/CHF edging up 0.06% to hit 0.9759.
The greenback was moderately higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD adding 0.05% to hit 1.0198, AUD/USD dipping 0.04% to hit 1.0202 and NZD/USD falling 0.12% to hit 0.7953.
The commodity-linked currencies were hit after data showed earlier that China's imports in June grew at half the expected pace, underscoring that the country’s economy and domestic demand are cooling quickly, even though export growth was slightly better than expected.
In addition, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said that its index of business confidence fell to minus 4 in the second quarter from a reading of 13 in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, industry data showed earlier that an index of business confidence for Australia fell to minus 3 in June from a reading of minus 2 the previous month.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02%, to trade at 83.26.
European Union finance ministers were to hold talks in Brussels throughout the day.
During European morning trade, the dollar was little changed against the euro, with EUR/USD easing 0.03% to hit 1.2306.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile after a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday offered few signs of progress in tackling the region’s debt crisis.
Euro zone ministers agreed to give Spain until 2014, instead of 2013, to reach its deficit reduction targets, in exchange for further budget savings, and promised EUR30 billion would be given by the end of July to start a big bailout of the country's banks.
They made no apparent progress, however, on activating the bloc's rescue funds to intervene in bond markets and bring down Spain and Italy’s spiraling borrowing costs.
Spain’s 10-year government bonds were hovering at 7.03% earlier Tuesday, while Italy’s 10-year bonds were at 6.10%, both above the 6% threshold which is widely seen as unsustainable.
The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.01% to hit 1.5528.
Sterling found some support after official data showed that U.K. manufacturing production rose 1.2% in May, beating expectations for a 0.1% rise and following a 0.8% fall the previous month.
A separate report showed that the U.K.’s trade deficit narrowed more-than-expected in May, narrowing to GBP8.4 billion from a deficit of GBP9.7 billion the previous month.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against the yen and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.35% to hit 79.27 and USD/CHF edging up 0.06% to hit 0.9759.
The greenback was moderately higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD adding 0.05% to hit 1.0198, AUD/USD dipping 0.04% to hit 1.0202 and NZD/USD falling 0.12% to hit 0.7953.
The commodity-linked currencies were hit after data showed earlier that China's imports in June grew at half the expected pace, underscoring that the country’s economy and domestic demand are cooling quickly, even though export growth was slightly better than expected.
In addition, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said that its index of business confidence fell to minus 4 in the second quarter from a reading of 13 in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, industry data showed earlier that an index of business confidence for Australia fell to minus 3 in June from a reading of minus 2 the previous month.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02%, to trade at 83.26.
European Union finance ministers were to hold talks in Brussels throughout the day.