The dollar was unchanged against the yen and the euro in range-bound Asian trade Tuesday, as investors were unwilling to make major bets given the lack of fresh trading hints.
The Canadian dollar traded lower after the country's leader was ousted after a national vote.
The greenback was at ¥119.46, down from 119.49 late Monday in New York.
Since there have been no fresh incentives during the Asian trade, investors were watching the Tokyo stock market’s
performance. But the benchmark stock market rose only a moderate 0.4%
as of midday, causing the dollar to move in a straightjacketed range
between ¥119.45 and ¥119.55, says MarketWatch.
Ahead of policy-setting meetings due later in the week, investors find it harder to take positions.
October 22 will mark a meeting of the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve will meet on October 27-28, and the Bank of Japan - on October 30.
Market players did not take into consideration the U.S. Treasury’s semiannual currency report released a day earlier, in which the Obama administration eased its criticism of China’s currency policy after Beijing in August let the yuan move more easily with the market.
The renminbi is “below its appropriate
medium-term valuation,” the U.S. Treasury said. In its previous report it said the currency was
“significantly undervalued.” This reports usually give the U.S. an occasion to criticize its international counterparts and contains hints for forex trading.
“There are issues over economies, in China and emerging and resource-exporting countries. And there also are issues surrounding U.S. (monetary policy) normalization. Currencies come after these issues ,” said Sakai at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust.
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said
Monday “the economy is on a good trajectory,” but there are threats emerging from overseas economies. Williams, a voting member of the
Federal Open Market Committee, said the outlook for rates has
become trickier in the short term. For much of the year he had been pointing to the approaching rates increase.
Among other currencies, the Canadian dollar was almost unchanged as a national vote showed citizens had a strong desire for change. Canada's conservative leader was ousted after the general election.
USD/CAD was last at 1.3016, down 0.02%.
The U.S. dollar was unmoved against the euro, which was last at $1.1330 from $1.1329 late Monday.
The common currency was last at ¥135.36 from ¥135.32.
