The dollar strengthened against the euro in Asian trading early Tuesday but moved narrowly as many investors awaited the release this week of U.S. economic data.
The dollar was trading at 104.71 yen at late morning in Tokyo, up 0.11 yen from late Monday here and above the 103.88 yen it bought in New York later that day. The euro fell to $1.3359 from $1.3407 late Monday, and to 139.84 yen from 140.32 yen.
The U.S. currency were mixed against other regional currencies. The greenback strengthened against Hong Kong dollar and Indonesian rupiah, while it dipped against Singapore dollar, South Korean won and Thai baht.
In late New York trade Monday, the dollar also rose to 1.1592 Swiss francs from 1.1498, and 1.2059 Canadian dollars from 1.2043. The British pound dropped to $1.9147 from $1.9252.
The dollar was stable after strengthening Monday on Japan's disappointing economic data and ahead of the release Tuesday of the January Treasury International capital System flow data and fourth-quarter current account data Wednesday.
Investors will be looking to see whether total net inflows are larger than the January $58.3 billion U.S. trade gap. They will also want to know what portion of the net inflows into U.S. assets is coming from the foreign private sector. Strong foreign private inflows imply that the rest of the world isn't becoming nervous about holding U.S. assets.
On Wednesday, economists look for the current account deficit to have widened to $184.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Last week's trading was marked by worries over the U.S. trade deficit. On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the January trade gap was $58.3 billion -- 4.5 percent higher than December's and just below November's all-time high of $59.4 billion.
The January figure, which exceeded economists' expectations, underlined lingering worries over the U.S. trade and budget deficits that propelled the euro from about $1.20 last September to an all-time high of $1.3667 at the end of December.
Concerns about the big U.S. trade and budget deficits are the main factors pushing the dollar down, although the dollar has gradually recovered in recent months.