Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged higher against a currency basket on Tuesday after a three day U.S. government shutdown ended, while the yen slipped lower after the head of the Bank of Japan reiterated his support for monetary easing.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.16% to 90.28 by 03:01 AM ET (08:01 AM GMT), not far off its three-year low of 89.96 set on Friday.
Congress approved a measure on Monday to fund the government for around three weeks and President Donald Trump signed the bill, ending the three-day government shutdown.
The yen touched overnight lows after BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said there is still some distance to reach the banks 2% inflation target and there is no debate over the timing of an exit from its loose monetary policy.
USD/JPY hit a high of 111.16 following the remarks, before pulling back slightly to trade at 111.02.
The euro was a touch lower against the dollar, with EUR/USD down 0.13% to 1.2247, still in sight of last Wednesday’s three-year peaks of 1.2322.
Demand for the single currency continued to be underpinned ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday, which could provide insight into future shifts in monetary policy.
Sterling was lower, with GBP/USD losing 0.21% to trade at 1.3955, not far from an overnight high of 1.4002, which the strongest level since Britain’s vote to exit the European Union in June 2016.
Sterling was boosted by hopes that Britain will reach a favorable Brexit deal.
Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were lower against their U.S. counterpart, with AUD/USD down 0.67% to 0.7960 and NZD/USD off 0.25% at 0.7309.