Investing.com - The dollar touched four-month highs against the yen on Tuesday as investors’ awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, while the New Zealand dollar was sharply lower following reports of an earthquake.
USD/JPY was up 0.23% at 114.31 by 07.33 AM ET (11.30 AM GMT) after rising as high as 114.48 earlier, the strongest level since March 15.
Investors were looking ahead to comments from Yellen, who was due to make semi-annual testimony on monetary policy before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday and Thursday for fresh cues on the future path of interest rates.
Markets were waiting to see if Yellen would indicate whether the Fed is on track to make a third rate hike this year.
The Fed hiked rates at its June meeting and stuck to its forecast for one more rate hike this year and Friday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report eased recent concerns over whether officials would be able to stick to their planned tightening path.
The yen remained on the back foot after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda in a speech on Monday reiterated that the bank is resolved to keep its stimulus program in place until inflation is in line with its 2% target.
The remarks underlined the divergent monetary policy outlook between the BoJ and its peers in the U.S. and Europe.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.87.
The kiwi was down sharply, with NZD/USD falling 0.82% to 0.7215 following reports that a large earthquake had struck off New Zealand’s south island, although there were no reports of damage.
The dollar was little changed against the euro, with EUR/USD at 1.1394.
The euro was near 17-month highs against the yen, with EUR/JPY rising 0.22% to 130.29.
Sterling was slightly higher against the dollar, with GBP/USD rising 0.2% to 1.2907, pulling back from Monday’s almost two-week lows of 1.2854.
Sterling slumped after a recent string of lackluster economic data raised doubts over the prospect for rate hikes by the Bank of England.