By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar edged lower against most of its foreign rivals Tuesday afternoon in Asia with traders wary ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and statement due later in the global day. The Federal Open Market Committee isn’t expected to take action on interest rates at the end of its one-day meeting Tuesday. The decision and statement are due for release at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. Read more about the FOMC meeting. But “a number of economists expect the U.S. central bank to gear up for additional quantitative easing which is why the dollar has been sold pre-FOMC,” Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT, said in a note to clients issued late Monday. “Currency trends are usually determined by the direction of interest rates or monetary policy and the prospect of further stimulus has put the dollar under pressure,” she said. The dollar index (DXY 81.21, -0.13, -0.16%) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, fell to 81.148 during Asia’s early afternoon trading, from 81.334 late Monday in North American trading. The U.S. dollar may get some support “if the FOMC holds off on QE-2 [more quantitative easing] and leaves its rhetoric broadly unchanged, as the market is likely to modestly reduce its expectations of QE-2,” analysts at Barclays Capital said in a research note Tuesday. “But the market is not heavily positioned at the moment and is not likely to back too far away from its expectations for QE-2, so the overall downward trend in the USD will likely remain intact for now,” they said. Against the yen, the dollar (USDYEN 85.3200, -0.3700, -0.4318%) bought ¥85.51, down from ¥85.80 Monday. The dollar had weakened against the euro Monday as traders turned their attention to the U.S. Fed meeting. See Monday’s currencies report. In recent dealings, the euro (EURUSD 1.3076, +0.0013, +0.0995%) bought $1.3088, up from $1.3062 in late North American trading on Monday.

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