Dollar Edges Up amid U.S. Budget Woes
The dollar edged up against the yen in range-bound Asia trade on Tuesday as market players grew jittery over the U.S. budget impasse.
The greenback was quoted at 97.06 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 96.68 yen in New York Monday afternoon.
The euro slipped to $1.3559 from $1.3579 in U.S. trade but rose to 131.63 yen from 131.30 yen.
Stock markets globally lost ground Monday with no sign of a resolution to a U.S. standoff over raising the government debt ceiling ahead of the October 17 deadline.
If the government loses its borrowing authority on October 17, it could default on its debts for the first time in history.
Democratic and Republican leaders gave no ground on Monday as the partial U.S. government shutdown edged into its second week.
"With the debt ceiling set to be breached in just 10 days' time, market nervousness is rising," National Australia Bank said in a note.
"Trading is range-bound as we are seeing profit-taking and buying on dips alternately," said Yosuke Hosokawa, a dealer with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
"This situation is likely to continue until we can see a sign of a U.S. budget breakthrough," Hosokawa said.
Earlier in the day, the dollar got a bit of breathing space against the yen after Japanese government data released early Tuesday showed the nation's current account surplus was a sharply lower-than-expected 161.5 billion yen ($1.67 billion) in August.
But the rise was too modest to reverse the greenback's downtrend.
The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It slipped to 43.08 Philippine pesos from 43.13 pesos the previous day and to 61.73 Indian rupees from 61.80 rupees while holding steady at Tw$29.38.
The dollar rose to 11,381 Indonesian rupiah from 11,212 rupiah, to 1,074.35 South Korean won from 1,071.29 won, to Sg$1.2501 from Sg$1.2480 and to 31.39 Thai baht from 31.29 baht.
The Australian dollar rose to 94.27 U.S. cents from 94.18 cents, while the Chinese yuan changed hands at 15.87 yen against 15.86 yen.
Source: Agence France Presse
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