Investing.com - The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro on Tuesday as widespread speculation over when the Federal Reserve will start to phase out stimulus measures continued.
During European late morning trade, the dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY losing 0.33% to trade at 97.23.
Demand for the safe haven yen was boosted as expectations that the Fed may start to unwind its asset purchase program next month sparked weakness in Japanese equities markets overnight.
Investors were looking to the minutes of the Fed’s July meeting, due Wednesday, for further indications as to when the central bank may start to taper stimulus. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the decision to start tapering will depend on whether economic data is strong enough.
Elsewhere, the dollar was close to two-month lows against the euro, with EUR/USD advancing 0.44% to 1.3393.
The euro showed little reaction after official data on Tuesday showed that German producer price inflation dipped 0.1% in July from a month earlier and was 0.5% higher on a year-over-year basis.
Economists had forecast a 0.2% month-over-month increase and a 0.7% annual gain.
The dollar fell to two-month lows against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.12% to 1.5667.
The dollar moved lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF shedding 0.44% to trade at 0.9201.
In contrast, the greenback was broadly higher against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD falling 0.60% to 0.9058, NZD/USD dropping 1.07% to 0.7981 and USD/CAD climbing 0.22% to 1.0367.
The Australian dollar weakened after the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s August meeting indicated that further rate cuts remain possible in the future.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand dollar fell sharply after Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler called the currency "overvalued".
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.30% to 81.04.
