Investing.com – The dollar dropped slightly against major currencies in Asia on Tuesday morning trade, despite the US dollar index surging once again above the 94 level the day before.
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies last stood at 94.32, down 0.03% at 11:19PM ET (03:19 GMT). The dollar index climbed to this year’s high at 94.43 overnight, after news emerged that an on-again-off-again U.S.-North Korea summit is back on track.
Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell at the beginning of the week to a six-week low at 2.89%, weakening the demand for the dollar.
The USD/JPY pair lost 0.36% to 109.02. The pair was pushed down to 108.92 early Tuesday morning, a fresh low since May 8. Japan’s unemployment rate remained steady at 2.5% but the jobs/applications ratio ticked lower from 1.6% to 1.59%.
Political turmoil in Italy also hurt investor’s risk appetite. Italian President Sergio Mattarella refused to accept the nomination of a euroskeptic finance minister, prompting the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and far-right League party to give up trying to form an administration. To seek safety, investors moved their money away from the euro and into the anti-risk yen.
In Australia, the AUD/USD pair lost 0.24% at 0.7526. The Aussie, sensitive to shifts in risk sentiment, took on a bearish trend.
In China, the People's Bank of China set the set the reference rate for the yuan against the dollar, the mid-point from which the currency is allowed to trade, at 6.3962 versus the previous day's 6.4021. The USD/CNY pair gained 0.25% to trade at 6.4145.