WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar largely stayed firm against most of its rivals on Tuesday, although its movements against some of the currencies were largely sluggish as worries about escalating U.S.-China trade tensions continued to weigh on market sentiment.
The dollar index advanced Tuesday morning and stayed above the unchanged line, save for a brief while around late morning when it faltered and slipped slightly into the red before edging higher again.
The index rose to a high of 97.77 but pared a significant portion of its gains as the session progressed and was last seen hovering around 97.60, up 0.08% from previous close.
Against the euro, the greenback stayed slightly up from previous close, after weakening from a morning high of 1.1172.
Germany's factory orders rebounded at a faster than expected pace in June, data from Destatis showed Tuesday. The data said factory orders grew 2.5% month-on-month in June, reversing a revised 2% drop in May. The pace of growth also exceeded the expected rate of 0.5%. Meanwhile, domestic orders decreased 1% in June.
On a yearly basis, factory orders declined 3.6% in June but much slower than the 8.4% decrease seen in May and the expected fall of 5.3%.
Survey data from IHS Markit revealed Germany's construction activity declined for the first time in nine months in July, with the construction purchasing managers' index falling to 49.5 in the month, from 50.0 in June.
Separate survey from IHS Markit showed that the Eurozone construction PMI fell marginally to 50.6 from 50.8 in June.
France's construction PMI rose to 52.4 from 51.8 in the previous month, rising at the fastest pace in seven months, while Italy's construction PMI contracted to 49.8 in July from 50.7 in the prior month.
The British currency gave up earlier gains but was still up in positive territory, with a unit of Sterling fetching $1.2163. The dollar was in positive territory for a while around mid afternoon, when it rose to 1.2141.
The Japanese yen was down by about 0.5% at 106.48 yen a dollar, as against Monday's close of 105.96 yen a dollar.
Japan's leading index fell to the lowest level in nearly nine-and-a-half years in June, preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed. The leading index, which measures the future economic activity, fell to 93.3 in June from 94.9 in May. The expected score for June was 93.5.
The coincident index that reflects the current economic activity decreased to 100.4 in June from 103.4 in the previous month.
The dollar slipped against the Aussie after the Australian central bank held its interest rate unchanged. The Aussie, however, pared most of its gains and was flat at 0.6757, a long way down from the day's high of 0.6801.
The board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, governed by Philip Lowe, maintained the cash rate at a record low 1.00 percent, in line with forecasts.
'The Board will continue to monitor developments in the labour market closely and ease monetary policy further if needed to support sustainable growth in the economy and the achievement of the inflation target over time,' the bank said in a statement.
Policymakers said it is reasonable to expect that an extended period of low interest rates will be required in Australia to make progress in reducing unemployment and achieve more assured progress towards the inflation target.
Against the loonie, the dollar was up more than 0.5% at 1.3275, and against Swiss franc, it gained about 0.3% at 0.9764.
The yuan, which fell to 7.0582 a dollar, recovered well to 7.0264, gaining more than 0.3%. The People's Bank of China set the midpoint for the Chinese currency at a stronger than expected level.
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