Dollar stalls

TOKYO: The dollar steadied on Tuesday as the market´s focus shifted back to U.S. trade policy as investors wagered U.S.-led attacks on Syria would not escalate into a wider conflict in the Middle East.

An index that tracks the dollar against a basket of six currencies steadied around 89.430 after a 0.4 percent fall on Monday, not far from its two-week low of 89.355 last week.

Against the yen, the dollar softened to 107.04 yen, off its seven-week high of 107.78 yen touched on Friday as traders braced for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tokyo is eager to avoid being pushed into talks on a two-way free trade agreement aimed not only at market access but at monetary and currency policies. But traders suspect Washington could put pressure on Japan after the U.S. Treasury´s semi-annual currency report published on Friday kept Japan on a monitoring list for possible manipulation.

Trump himself also accused Russia and China on Monday of devaluing their currencies, triggering selling in the dollar, even as the rouble´s dive this month was set off by U.S. sanctions while the yuan has been strengthening in recent months.