Dollar mixed before Bernanke speech
The dollar was up against the euro but down versus the yen Tuesday as the market awaited a speech by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke for fresh leads on the health of the US economy, dealers said.
In European trading, the euro fell to 1.5479 dollars from 1.5542 in New York late on Monday.
The dollar declined to 103.62 yen from 103.83 yen.
Market players were waiting to hear whether Bernanke would "talk about downside risks or suggest the worst (of the credit crisis) is over," said Credit Suisse strategist Satoru Ogasawara.
The top US central banker was due to speak Tuesday at a financial markets conference organised by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Traders were also bracing for a slew of US economic indicators due this week, including retail sales later Tuesday, consumer price inflation on Wednesday and housing starts on Friday.
Elsewhere on Tuesday the pound was in focus following news that British inflation rose far more than anticipated during April.
Official data showed that the annual inflation rate spiked to 3.0 percent in the year to April, ahead of analysts' expectations for an increase to 2.6 percent from the previous month's 2.5 percent.
"The inflation numbers created a knee-jerk rally on the notion that the Bank of England can't cut interest rates but on further reflection BoE paralysis may be regarded as a negative," said Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at ECU Group.
The Bank of England last Thursday left its key interest rate unchanged at 5.0 percent, ruling out a back-to-back cut to help stimulate economic growth as inflation remains high amid surging oil prices, economists said.
The widely-expected decision by the BoE's nine-member monetary policy committee came on the same day that the European Central Bank held eurozone borrowing costs steady at 4.0 percent.
The US Federal Reserve recently cut its key lending rate by a quarter-point to 2.00 percent in a fresh bid to fire up the sluggish US economy.
In London on Tuesday, the euro changed hands at 1.5479 dollars against 1.5542 late on Monday, at 160.41 yen (161.41), 0.7954 pounds (0.7938) and 1.6202 Swiss francs (1.6221).
The dollar stood at 103.62 yen (103.83) and 1.0466 Swiss francs (1.0434).
The pound was at 1.9493 dollars (1.9576).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to 875 dollars per ounce from 883.50 dollars late on Monday.
AFP
