Dollar steady with focus on Fed meeting; kiwi near 2-week highs

Tuesday,   12-Dec-2017   09:20 AM (IST)

The dollar held steady near a recent two-week high versus a basket of major currencies on Tuesday, with traders awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week for fresh catalysts.The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major peers, last stood at 93.922. That was within sight of Friday's peak of 94.087, the highest for the dollar index since Nov. 21.The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates at its two-day policy meeting that will end on Wednesday and is expected to tighten policy further next year, although the policy outlook remains clouded by subdued inflation.Since a rate hike this week has been priced in by the market, the dollar could sag initially after the Fed's policy announcement.Against the yen, the dollar held steady at 113.56 yen, trading near Monday's high of 113.69 yen, which was the dollar's strongest level in about a month.The euro last changed hands at $1.1775, having pulled back from Monday's intraday high of $1.1811.The New Zealand dollar hovered near two-week highs on Tuesday as investors welcomed the appointment of national pension fund chief Adrian Orr, a former central bank official, to head the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from March.The New Zealand dollar held steady at $0.6911. On Monday, the kiwi had surged nearly 1.1 percent and climbed to as high as $0.6930, its strongest level since late November.