Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was lower against the yen and was little changed against the euro on Tuesday, after Japan's finance minister said Tokyo will purchase bonds from the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone's permanent bailout fund.
During European morning trade, the greenback was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/USD inching up 0.03% to 1.3119.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday his government would buy bonds issued by the ESM in order to help stabilize the financial situation in the bloc.
The ESM was scheduled to make its first issuance of securities later in the trading day, following its launch in October 2012.
The euro remained firm after official data showed that the unemployment rate in the euro zone hit a new record high of 11.8% in November, up from 11.7% in October, underlining concerns over the outlook for growth in the region.
Meanwhile, German factory orders fell 1.8% in November, compared to expectations for a 1.4% drop as overseas demand declined.
A separate report showed that euro zone retail sales increased 0.1% in November, disappointing expectations for a 0.3% rise.
The dollar was weaker against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.40% to 87.43.
The greenback pushed higher against the pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.16% to 1.6089, but was little changed against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF inching up 0.05% to 0.9217.
The greenback was trading in a narrow range against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD dipping 0.08% to 0.9851, AUD/USD easing down 0.01% to 1.0502 and NZD/USD sliding 0.11% to 0.8361.
Earlier Tuesday, official data showed that Australia's trade balance widened to AUD2.6 billion in November from AUD2.4 billion in October, the largest deficit in nearly five years.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, dipped 0.04% to 80.33.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release private sector data on economic optimism, as well as official data on consumer credit.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
