Investing.com - The greenback rose to an almost one-and-a-half-week high as traders waited for clues from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the outlook for monetary policy.
Powell is scheduled to give remarks at a town hall meeting with teachers in Washington D.C. at 7:00 PM ET (24:00 GMT).
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, increased 0.16% to 95.965 as of 10:33 AM ET (15:33 GMT).
Last week the central bank signaled an end to its drive to tighten monetary policy due to concerns over slowing economic growth domestically and abroad.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night caused little movement, as markets digested the prospects of another government shutdown should Congress not meet his demand for a border wall.
The dollar was down against the safe-haven yen, with USD/JPY falling 0.25% to 109.67.
Elsewhere, the pound recovered slightly after falling to a two-week low of $1.2926 amid reports that the European Union would not reopen the Brexit divorce deal negotiated last year. GBP/USD inched up 0.15% to 1.2960.
The euro was down after downbeat data from Germany, with EUR/USD falling 0.25% to 1.1382.
In Australia, the AUD/USD remained near a 1.4% low of 0.7129 after Australian central bank governor Philip Lowe said in a speech that the next move in interest rates could be downwards.
NZD/USD dipped 0.7% to 0.6842. The loonie was lower, with USD/CAD up 0.46% to 1.3184.