By MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar was higher against most major counterparts in Asian trading Tuesday, but mostly treaded water against its Japanese counterpart. The dollar was rangebound against the yen (CUR_USDYEN 86.8100, +0.0800, +0.0922%) , trading at ¥86.84, compared with ¥86.85 in late North American trading on Monday. It rose as high as ¥87.18 earlier in the session, but also dipped to ¥86.72. "Elevated risk aversion suggests JPY [Japanese yen] downside will be limited in the short-term although speculative JPY positioning looks overly long at its highest since December 2009," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign-exchange strategy at Credit Agricole, in a note to clients. The dollar has technical support around ¥85.86, "but the risk is for a shift higher in USD/JPY over coming sessions from current oversold levels," he said. The dollar index (DXY 82.77, +0.26, +0.31%) , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, traded at 82.541, up from 82.529. The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2901, -0.0046, -0.3553%) bought $1.2947, compared with $1.2959, and the British pound (CUR_GBPUSD 1.5181, -0.0043, -0.2825%) fell to $1.5206 from $1.5235 late Monday. On Monday, the dollar fell against the euro after a weak U.S. report on the housing sector weighed on the greenback and as the shared currency shrugged off a downgrade of Ireland's credit rating. See Monday's Currencies report.

Source