Forex - Dollar mostly higher as traders eye Fed meeting

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar traded higher against most of its major rivals during Tuesday’s Asian session as traders in the region eye the start of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting later Tuesday.

In Asian trading Tuesday, EUR/USD inched up 0.03% to 1.3791.

GBP/USD slid 0.25% to 1.6102 after a report compiled by the Confederation of British Industry said just 2% of retailers reported an increase in sales in October, down from 34% in September.

USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 97.64 after Japan’s Statistic Bureau said the country’s unemployment rate fell to 4% last month from 4.1% in August. Economists expected a reading of 4% for September.

In a separate report, the Statistics Bureau said household spending in the world’s third-largest economy rose 3.7% in September after falling 1.6% in August. Analysts expected a September increase of just 0.5%.

In another report, the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry said that Japanese retail sales rose 3.1% in September after rising 1.1% in August. Analysts expected an increase of 1.9% last month.

Some market observers believe the retail sales and household spending numbers shot up last month ahead of the implementation of controversial consumption tax in Japan.

USD/CHF rose 0.03% to 0.8960 while USD/CAD inched down 0.02% to 1.0444.

In U.S. economic news out Monday, industry data revealed that U.S. pending home sales fell 5.6% last month, down for the fourth consecutive month and well below market calls for a gain of 0.1%

Industrial production rose 0.6% last month, better than the 0.4% increase economists expected. Capacity utilization rose to 78.3% from an upward-revised 77.9%, beating the estimate of 78%.

AUD/USD slipped 0.36% to 0.9540 after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the Aussie could be "materially lower" in the future.

NZD/USD fell 0.20% to 0.8286 while the U.S. Dollar Index inched 0.01% to 79.41.