* Dollar index on pace to snap 2-day rising streak
* Top Senate Democrat says COVID-19 relief talks 'moving in the right direction' (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments to U.S. afternoon trading)
By Caroline Valetkevitch and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar edged lower in choppy trade against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, choking off a recent rally fueled by dollar bears taking profits on short positions, while investors watched talks in Washington on the next round of coronavirus relief.
After its biggest monthly decline in a decade in July, the greenback started August on a firmer note as some investors trimmed short positions.
But the immediate outlook for the dollar remains tied partly to relief aid talks in Washington and the economic impact of new virus cases in the United States.
The White House and Democratic congressional leaders have reported some progress in discussions over a fifth major coronavirus aid bill, but they remain apart on a range of issues. U.S. Dollar Currency Index =USD , which measures the greenback's strength against six major currencies, was 0.16% lower after rising 0.6% over the previous two sessions.
"While a consolidation or a modest corrective rebound was inevitable after the sharp fall last month, market sentiment towards the dollar remains negative due to dominating concerns about the scale of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. and its devastating impact on the economy," Piotr Matys, senior emerging markets FX Strategist at Rabobank, said in a note.
Despite a slowdown in new U.S. virus cases and encouraging factory data, investors remained concerned about the U.S. economy. The next big U.S. data points will be weekly jobless claims and the July U.S. employment report this week, said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.
The Aussie dollar AUD=D3 was up 0.44% after the Australian central bank held policy steady. bid prices at 2:59PM (1859 GMT) Description
RIC
Last
U.S. Close Pct Change
YTD Pct
High Bid
Low Bid
Previous
Change
Session
Euro/Dollar
$1.1780
$1.1761
+0.16%
+0.00%
+1.1806
+1.1722 Dollar/Yen
105.7700
105.9400
-0.16%
+0.00%
+106.1900 +105.7200 Euro/Yen
EURJPY=
124.61
124.61
+0.00%
+0.00%
+125.0100 +124.2700 Dollar/Swiss
CHF=
0.9145
0.9177
-0.35%
+0.00%
+0.9191
+0.9142 Sterling/Dollar GBP=
1.3054
1.3072
-0.14%
+0.00%
+1.3107
+1.2982 Dollar/Canadian CAD=
1.3347
1.3389
-0.31%
+0.00%
+1.3420
+1.3346 Australian/Doll AUD=
0.7152
0.7123
+0.44%
+0.00%
+0.7158
+0.7106 ar
Euro/Swiss
EURCHF=
1.0774
1.0793
-0.18%
+0.00%
+1.0810
+1.0740 Euro/Sterling
EURGBP=
0.9024
0.8994
+0.33%
+0.00%
+0.9040
+0.8991 NZ
NZD=
0.6608
0.6610
-0.03%
+0.00%
+0.6624
+0.6590 Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway
9.1076
9.1306
-0.25%
+0.00%
+9.1671
+9.0887 Euro/Norway
EURNOK=
10.7316
10.7410
-0.09%
+0.00%
+10.7700
+10.7128 Dollar/Sweden
SEK=
8.7400
8.7394
+0.10%
+0.00%
+8.7850
+8.7184 Euro/Sweden
EURSEK=
10.2971
10.2867
+0.10%
+0.00%
+10.3044
+10.2744
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https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
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