Investing.com - The dollar continued to slip against the other major currencies in subdued trade on Tuesday, as volumes were expected to remain limited with no major U.S. data expected throughout the day, although Friday’s strong U.S. jobs report still lent some support.
The greenback continued te be supported by Friday’s strong nonfarm payrolls data, which fueled expectations the Federal Reserve will stick to its plans for a third interest rate hike this year.
The U.S. Labor Department on Friday said the economy added 209,000 jobs last month, blowing past expectations for an increase of 183,000.
Investors were now eyeing U.S. inflation reports later in the week for indications of whether the recovery in the dollar is sustainable in the longer term.
EUR/USD added 0.16% to 1.1813 but gains were expected to remain limited after data showed that German exports fell by 2.8% in June, snapping five months of gains. It was the biggest drop since August 2015.
German imports dropped by 4.5%, the largest decline since January 2009. That drove Germany’s trade surplus up to €21.1 billion, from €20.3 billion in May, a 10-month high.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD held steady at 1.3026, just off the previous session’s one-and-a-half week low of 1.3014.
USD/JPY declined 0.40% to 110.30, while USD/CHF was little changed at 0.9717.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.33% at 0.7939 and with NZD/USD edging up 0.10% to 0.7368.
Earlier Tuesday, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index rose to 12 in July from a reading of 9 the previous month.
Separately, official data showed that China’s exports increased by 7.2% in July and imports climbed 11.0%. Both readings were slightly below analysts’s projections
China is Australia’s biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slipped 0.16% to trade at 1.2661, not far from Monday’s three-week high of 1.2714.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.16% at 93.15, still close to Friday’s one-week high of 93.64.