Investing.com - The dollar was trading close to more than three-month lows against the yen on Tuesday, as expectations that the Bank of Japan will hold off on additional stimulus measure in the near term underpinned demand for the Japanese currency.
USD/JPY slid 0.11% to 101.37, not far from Monday’s low of 101.09, the weakest level since February 5.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, as they awaited insight on the central bank's view of the economy.
Recent U.S. economic reports indicating that the recovery remains uneven have weighed on U.S. Treasury yields, pressuring the dollar lower.
The BoJ was widely expected to keep monetary policy unchanged at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, after recent comments by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda indicated that the bank’s assessment of the economy remains upbeat.
The euro was also trading at more than three month lows against the yen on Tuesday, with EUR/JPY down 0.22% to 138.81, near the lows of 138.60 struck in the previous session, the weakest since February 7.
The shared currency slipped against the dollar, with EUR/USD sliding 0.12% to 1.3692, not far from the two-and-a-half month lows of 1.3647 reached late last week.
The euro remained under pressure from mounting expectations for monetary easing by the European Central Bank at its next meeting in June and data last week showing that the euro zone economy grew at a slower than forecast rate in the first quarter.
The pound pushed higher ahead of the U.K. inflation report for April, due out later in the session, with GBP/USD rising 0.13% to 1.6835.
The dollar edged higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF inching up 0.11% to 0.8931.
The Australian dollar fell to its lowest level in two weeks, with AUD/USD down 0.58% to 0.9275, after the minutes of the Reserve Bank’s May meeting indicated that rates are likely to remain on hold for an extended period.
Elsewhere, NZD/USD lost 0.53% to trade at 0.8584, while USD/CAD was almost unchanged at 1.0878.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, edged up 0.05% to 80.12.