Investing.com - The dollar trimmed losses against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after data showed that U.S. factory orders rose broadly in line with expectations in June, while markets continued to eye the release of U.S. nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
EUR/USD was steady at 1.0952, pulling back from session highs of 1.0987.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported on Tuesday that factory orders increased by 1.8% in June, meeting expectations. Factory orders fell by 1.1% in May, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 1.0%.
The dollar has been boosted recently by expectations that the improving U.S. economy will prompt the Federal Reserve to raise short term interest rates in the coming months, possibly as early as September.
Investors were looking to the government nonfarm payrolls report, due to be released on Friday. The consensus forecast is that the report will show jobs growth of 215,000 last month.
Monthly jobs gains above 200,000 are seen by economists as consistent with strong employment growth.
The dollar turned fractionally higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.08% at 1.5572.
Data earlier showed that the Markit U.K. construction purchasing managers’ index fell to 57.1 from 58.1 June, which was the highest level in four months. Economists had expected the index to rise to 58.4.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 124.03 and higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.33% at 0.9724.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD rallying 1.61% to 0.7402 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.32% to 0.6585.
The Aussie was boosted after data on Tuesday showed that Australia's retail sales increased by 0.7% in June, beating expectations for a 0.5% gain.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade deficit narrowed to A$2.93 billion in June from a revised A$2.68 billion in May. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to A$3.10 billion in June.
At the same time, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to hold its benchmark interest rate at 2.00%, in a widely expected move.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slipped 0.10% to 1.3142, still close to Monday's 11-year peak of 1.3176.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 97.39, off session lows of 97.31.