The US dollar broke out of its recent tight trading range to move higher in the afternoon here with investors taking an upbeat view that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will paint a positive picture of the US economy in an address to Congress tomorrow, dealers said The dollar had moved higher in New York yesterday in response to the release of U.S. Treasury Capital International Capital Systems (TICS) data that showed that the US continued to attract robust foreign demand for its assets However the US unit eventually closed the New York session lower and this carried through into early Asian trade dealers said Greenspan is scheduled to deliver the semi-annual Fed monetary policy report to the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, followed by testimony to the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. He is widely expected to provide a generally upbeat assessment of the US economy underscoring the view that the Fed will continue with its rate hike cycle "The Chairman will likely say the economy is doing well and inflationary expectations are under control but unforeseeably high oil prices could lift current inflationary pressure," strategists at Singapore's DBS Bank wrote in a daily note Greenspan set the tone for what he is likely to say in a letter dated July 11, published last night. In it, he said that "a sharp flattening of the yield curve is not a foolproof indicator of economic weakness" and that the US economy was "coping pretty well" He also said the US economy was absorbing the rise in oil prices to restrain growth, and "long term bond yields are helping the economy expand" "Such comments could potentially become US dollar positive should the market start thinking that the Fed may raise rates beyond 4 pct by the end of the year," UBS said in a client note While Asian markets were hesitant to push the dollar significantly higher in the morning, the mood had improved somewhat in the afternoon as European buyers of the greenback began to emerge After closing around 111.90 yen in New York last night, the pair kept to a tight range between 111.80 and 112.00 yen in Asian morning trade.