Investing.com - The U.S. dollar is soaring during Tuesday's Asian session, trading higher against nearly all of its major rivals following a slack performance in the U.S. on Monday.
In Asian trading Tuesday, EUR/USD fell 0.10% to 1.3034 as traders look ahead to another European Union summit later this week. European policymakers are expected to mull, among other things, a possible bailout package for Cyprus at the meeting. If that country does require bailout assistance, it will be the fifth time since 2009 an EU member nation has been bailed out.
On Monday, Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, said its GDP contracted 0.9% last month following a similar contraction in January. Analysts expected the 0.9% decline. Greece's contracting GDP improved to a February reading of -5.75 from -6% in January. Analysts expected a February reading of -6% for Greece.
GBP/USD fell 0.05% to 1.4908 after the U.K.'s RICS house price balance surprisingly dropped in February to a seasonally adjusted rate of -6% from -4% in January. That is much worse than the -2% February reading analysts expected.
USD/JPY soared 0.34% to 96.62 and earlier traded as high as 96.72. In a report, Japan's Ministry of Finance said the country's Business Index Survey unexpectedly rose in the fourth quarter to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -4.6, from -10.3 in the third quarter. Analysts expected a fourth-quarter reading of -6.2.
In a separate report, Bank of Japan said that Japan's Corporate Goods Price Index rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.1% in February from -0.2% in January. That was inline with analysts' expectations.
Another report issued by METI said that Japanese tertiary industry activity index fell to a seasonally adjusted -1.1% in February from 1.4% in the prior month. Analysts expected the index to fall to -0.1% last month.
Elsewhere, USD/CHF rose 0.14% to 0.9487 while USD/CAD fell 0.01% to 1.0258. AUD/USD rose 0.11% to 1.0292 while NZD/USD slipped 0.31% to 0.8256.
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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.
